RALEIGH, N.C. -- Goaltender Michael Leighton almost acted like it was no big deal, but those around him with the Carolina Hurricanes felt otherwise.

Leighton won his first NHL game in almost six years as the Hurricanes used a big second period to rally past the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Sunday night at PNC Arena.

"It's good to be back and good to get a win," Leighton said after his first NHL appearance of the season -- and first with Carolina since the 2009-10 season. "Obviously it was a long road to get back here and I'm happy to be back here."

Leighton gave up two early goals, but he finished with 31 saves in his first NHL appearance of the season.

"It was his first NHL game in a while and he came up big," Hurricanes left winger Viktor Stalberg said.

Stalberg, Jeff Skinner and Derek Ryan scored in a productive span early in the second period as the Hurricanes won their fifth home game in a row.

Leighton, who hadn't notched an NHL victory since December 2010 with the Philadelphia Flyers, made his first NHL start since Jan. 27, 2013. He was playing in place of Cam Ward, who was in the net for the previous nine games.

"Once it was 3-2, he had four or five big saves," Carolina coach Bill Peters said.

Jonathan Marchessault and Aaron Ekblad scored in the first period for the Panthers. Aleksander Barkov had assists on both Florida first-period goals.

Marchessault's goal ended Carolina's streak of killing off 25 consecutive power plays. But the Carolina penalty-kill unit was up to the task the rest of the way, including a two-minute test in the third period.

Skinner also had an assist for the Hurricanes, who were coming off a 1-2-0 road trip in Canada last week. It was his first multi-point game of the month even though he leads Carolina in goals (10) and assists (9).

Goalie James Reimer stopped 24 shots for the Panthers.

The Hurricanes scored three goals in less than a 3 1/2-minute span of the second period to go up 3-2 and then killed two penalties to finish the period.

"Letting up for five minutes of the game and it cost us," Florida center Vincent Trocheck said. "We talk about it all year, playing a 60-minute game."

Florida opened with a strong first period. Marchessault scored his team-leading 10th goal just 5:41 into the game. Marchessault hadn't scored in the three previous games and that matched his longest goal drought of the season.

Ekblad scored when Leighton failed to handle his shot, with Jaromir Jagr appearing to hit Leighton's glove, sending the puck into the net.

"We played 55 good minutes tonight, but it wasn't enough," Florida coach Gerard Gallant said. "You can't have those letdowns in a game and it killed us tonight."

The Panthers had 16 first-period shots a night after a totaling 23 shots in 65 minutes in their 2-1 shootout victory against Columbus.

"We played at such a high level for so long ad that wasn't the level we played at (in the first period)," Peters said. "We fixed that."

Carolina responded when Stalberg took defenseman Matt Tennyson's pass from behind the net and slid the puck between Reimer's pads.

That resulted in Tennyson's first point in eight games with Carolina.

Less than two minutes later, Skinner's breakaway pulled the Hurricanes even at 2-2. Leighton picked up the secondary assist on the tally, marking his fourth career assist.

Carolina racked up its third goal when Ryan delivered off a rebound. Skinner forced the puck toward the net off a power-play faceoff.

The man-advantage, which resulted in Ryan's first goal of the season in his eighth game, came about because Skinner broke free again and was halted from behind by Florida defenseman Jason Demers.

The second-period outburst of offense was a much-needed boost for the Hurricanes, who scored a total of four goals during a three-game Canadian road trip that ended Saturday night.

Hurricanes center Jordan Staal left in the first period with an upper-body injury.

NOTES: Backup G Eddie Lack has been out for a full week since suffering a concussion in a Carolina practice. ... D Noah Hanifin, the first-round draft pick of the Hurricanes in 2015, played in his 100th career game. ... No longer division rivals (in the former Southeast Division), this was the Panthers' only trip of the season to Carolina. The teams meet in Florida on Feb. 28 and March 21. ... This game began Florida's season-long six-game road trip, with the next stop Tuesday night in Chicago. ... This was Carolina's only home game during a seven-game stretch, with the next outing Tuesday night on the road against the New York Rangers.