Marcel Goc, John Madden and Stephen Weiss sparked Florida to a 3-0 lead and Mikael Samuelsson added an empty netter late in the third. Joni Pitkanen scored for Carolina.
Scott Clemmensen made 34 saves for the Panthers, who finished two points ahead of Washington in second.
Taylor Pyatt scored twice for Phoenix, who took third place in the Western Conference.
The Southeast crown went down to the wire after Washington beat Eastern Conference winners New York Rangers 4-1 earlier on Saturday. A Washington win and Flor ida loss in regulation would have given the Capitals their fifth consecutive division title.
Nicklas Backstrom put the Capitals up 4-0 in the second after goals by Alex Ovechkin, Mathieu Perreault and John Carlson in the opening period.
Braden Holtby had a strong showing in net for the Capitals, making 35 saves with starting netminder Michal Neuvirth and primary back-up Tomas Vokoun injured.
SCORING CHAMPS
Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin claimed his second NHL points scoring title in four years, grabbing a goal (his 50th) and an assist to help the fourth-seeded Penguins top Philadelphia 4-2 in a match-up of teams who will meet in the postseason.
Malkin finished the regular season with 109 points. Sydney Crosby also had a goal and assist for Pittsburgh.
Tampa Ba y's Steven Stamkos claimed the top goal scorer's title, becoming the first player since Ovechkin in 2008 to score 60 in a season. He got the milestone goal 3:29 into the third as the Lightning beat Winnipeg 4-3 in overtime.
Defending Stanley Cup champions Boston, the East's number two seed, beat Buffalo 4-3 on Patrice Bergeron's shootout score and New Jersey won their sixth in a row, defeating Ottawa 4-2 as Ilya Kovalchuk scored twice in a meeting of playoff bound teams.
In the Western Conference, Patrick Kane's shootout goal helped Chicago edge Detroit 3-2 but the sixth-seeded Blackhawks failed to overtake the Red Wings for fifth place.
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