Raleigh, NC -- (Sports Network) - Nathan Horton and Radek Dvorak each finished with a goal and an assist, as the Florida Panthers edged Carolina, 4-3, a loss that harmed the Hurricanes' playoff hopes.

A Carolina win would have clinched the Southeast Division title. Instead, the Hurricanes finished the season with 92 points (43-33-6) and remained tied with idle Washington, which also closes out its season at home against Florida, on Saturday.

The Hurricanes would need a Washington loss in regulation to win the division, as the Capitals (42-31-8) would have fewer wins, and lose the tiebreaker. Even if the Capitals lose in overtime, the Hurricanes would miss out on the playoffs.

"We knew the deal coming back here, we had to make sure we won tonight," Carolina head coach Peter Laviolette said. "Our guys played with a lot of guts and a lot of heart tonight. There's a lot of bangs in that locker room, a lot of bruises and we battled through it."

The Panthers had already been eliminated from the playoff race, but snapped a 15-game winless streak at Carolina. Jay Bouwmeester and Steve Montador also tallied, and Craig Anderson stopped 26-of-28 shots in net.

"It's nice, especially with the impact it may have," Florida head coach Jacques Martin said. "It's nice to be able to win it. I thought we played well enough in here to win some games before and it went against us. Hopefully, we turned things around."

Florida's starting netminder Tomas Vokoun played the first period and made 17 saves, but had to sit out the rest of the game because of back spasms.

Eric Staal, Sergei Samsonov, and Trevor Letowski scored the goals for Carolina, which lost three of four to end the year. Cam Ward gave up all four goals on just 17 shots in the loss.

The Hurricanes got the game's first goal, on a backhander by Letowski, but Florida responded with three straight tallies to assume control.

Bouwmeester started the Panthers run with a goal from the slot at 11:38. A little less than 1 1/2 minutes later, Florida scored again, as the marker was the product of smooth passing.

David Booth passed from the left circle over to the right to Horton, who in turn sent the puck to the slot. Montador picked it up there and ripped a shot past Ward, giving Florida a 2-1 edge.

Horton then added his 27th goal of the season midway through the second period. He accepted a pass from Ville Peltonen while streaking through the neutral zone, raced uncontested toward goal, and put the puck between Ward's pads at 10:13.

Later in the second, the Hurricanes went on a 5-on-3 power play and capitalized on it. Staal had the disc just above the left circle and wound up, as though to shoot, while a Panthers player laid out to block it. Staal, though, moved to the high slot and blasted a shot past Anderson at 14:39. The 5-on-3 had ended just before Staal scored, but the extra Florida player couldn't get down ice quickly enough.

But Florida got the goal back with just 12 seconds left in the frame, as Dvorak scored his own breakaway goal, shorthanded, for a 4-2 Florida lead.

The goal proved to be critical, as Samsonov netted a second 'Canes power-play tally, just short of eight minutes into the third period.

But Anderson was stalwart in goal, turning aside 10 other shots in the period, despite the constant pressure. A Carolina player saved a sure empty-net goal with about 30 seconds left, but the Hurricanes couldn't do anything with a final possession, as Anderson gloved the puck at the buzzer to seal the win.

Game Notes:

Florida's last win in Carolina came on Dec. 6, 2002...Carolina committed no penalties, and had nine power plays, scoring on two...Ray Whitney and Joe Corvo each had two assists for the Hurricanes.