PANTHERS 4, HURRICANES 1: Mikael Samuelsson had a hand in three goals and Scott Clemmensen made 34 saves to help Florida clinch its first Southeast Division title in franchise history.

The Panthers, who two days ago snapped the NHL’s longest playoff drought at 12 years, needed at least one point to claim the division crown after Washington beat the New York Rangers 4-1 earlier Saturday.

They managed better than that as Marcel Goc, John Madden and Stephen Weiss each scored and Samuelsson added two assists and an empty-netter.

A nifty play in front of the net by Goc gave the Panthers the early lead. The German center retrieved Dmitry Kulikov’s pass following a faceoff, faked right to force a sprawling Brian Boucher down to the ice and calmly finished into the open net at 4:02.

Madden doubled the advantage just under three minutes later when he finished a give-and-go with Samuelsson from in close range. Weiss later made it 3-0 midway through the second with a power-play tally. Samuelsson’s shot from the blue line resulted in a long rebound that Weiss cleaned up.

Joni Pitkanen scored a power-play goal for the Panthers, who failed in attempting to close the season with three straight wins. They missed the postseason for a third consecutive year.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Florida will be the No. 3 seed and face the New Jersey Devils in the first round. … The Panthers had dropped five straight games coming in. … Center Jeremy Welsh made his NHL debut with Carolina days after signing a one-year deal out of Union College. He saw 16 minutes of ice time.