The Florida Panthers lived up to their championship pedigree once again Wednesday night in Raleigh, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final and win the best-of-7 series. The defending champions advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the third consecutive season, to become only the fourth team since 1979-80 to accomplish that feat.
Coming off a 3-0 home-ice loss Monday in Game 4, the Panthers started slowly in Game 5, allowing a pair of goals by Sebastian Aho in the first period. The Panthers turned it on in the second period when they scored three goals on three shots in a span of 4:36. They then shook off a game-tying goal by Seth Jarvis in the third, with Carter Verhaeghe potting his sixth playoff goal to punch their ticket into the Cup Final once again.
The Panthers will face the winner of the Western Conference Final. That could be a rematch against the Edmonton Oilers , who lead the Dallas Stars three games to one, with Game 5 set for Thursday in Dallas. The Panthers won their first Stanley Cup championship by defeating the Oilers in Game 7 a year ago.
The Hurricanes came out flying, recording the first eight shot attempts Wednesday night, playing with intensity and fire. They flummoxed and frustrated the Panthers, and then cashed in on a pair of turnovers to grab a 2-0 lead.
First, it was Gustav Forsling 's soft pass at center ice that was picked off by Aho, who jetted away on a breakaway and beat Sergei Bobrovsky glove side to make it 1-0 at 4:39. Then late in the period, Niko Mikkola coughed the puck up in the neutral zone. Carolina quickly transitioned the other way, and Aho scored again, snapping a shot between Mikkola's legs and past a screened Bobrovsky at 18:54.
It could've been worse for the Panthers, but Bobrovsky made two massive saves earlier in that first period to keep the Panthers from being run out of the building. He made an outstanding pad save to deny William Carrier bursting down the middle after accepting an Eric Robinson pass at 11:08. Then at the 16-minute mark, Bobrovsky shut down Jackson Blake 's 1-on-1 power-play shot.
Bobrovsky did it again early in the second period, when he stoned Mark Jankowski with a blocker save off a 2-on-1 just 47 seconds in.
The tide turned in Florida's favor shortly thereafter. The Panthers killed off a Seth Jones holding penalty at 5:03 and then promptly cashed in a power-play goal of their own at 7:23, following a Jesperi Kotkaniemi penalty for holding at 7:07. Matthew Tkachuk deflected an Aaron Ekblad shot past Frederik Andersen for his fifth goal of the playoffs and Florida's first since their Game 3 victory.
The Panthers seized on the momentum swing and scored on their next shot just 30 seconds later to tie the score. Tkachuk took a hit along the benches to make a slick pass to the onrushing Sam Bennett . That created a 2-on-1, and Evan Rodrigues went to the net to bury Bennett's feed at 7:53 to make it 2-2.
Four minutes passed before Florida's next shot. But that one ended up in the back of the net, too. Anton Lundell gained position on Aho in front of Andersen and redirected Brad Marchand 's brilliant pass into the cage for his fifth playoff goal to give the Panthers their first lead at 11:59.
That 3-2 score carried to the intermission only because Bobrovsky made two huge saves in the closing minutes to deny Aho the hat trick with Carolina on the power play. He then started the third period with a huge save on a short-handed opportunity by Jarvis at 2:50, after a chip feed from Aho.
On that same Florida power play, Andersen came up big at the other end with two clutch saves against Marchand and Verhaeghe during a wild scramble in the crease.
Jarvis got another chance later in the period, and this time the Hurricanes forward was not to be denied. Jarvis pounced on a loose puck in the low slot after Andrei Svechnikov poked it toward open ice and beat Bobrovsky 1-on-1 to tie the score 3-3 at 8:30.
But the Panthers kept their composure and ultimately regained the lead four minutes later. A brilliant individual effort by Aleksander Barkov , holding off Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov as he circled the net before dishing to the wide-open Verhaeghe for the go-ahead goal at 12:21, made all the difference for the defending champs.
But the drama wasn't over in this one just yet. Bennett was assessed a minor penalty for slashing with three minutes left in regulation. The Hurricanes pulled Andersen and had a 6-on-4 power play, but failed to score when Aho and Svehcnikov misfired on great looks and Bobrovsky made a game-saving stop on Shayne Gostisbehere 's bomb of a slap shot.
Bennett then burst out of the penalty box, beat everyone down ice to a loose puck and jammed his 10th postseason goal into the empty net at 19:06, effectively ending the series and Carolina's season.
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Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
The Hurricanes entered this best-of-7 series with home-ice advantage; but playing at Lenovo Center was no advantage whatsoever for them. The Panthers came into Raleigh and won all three games played there, after the Hurricanes began the postseason 5-0 on home ice.
Florida is 8-2 on the road in these playoffs, and outscored Carolina 15-5 in Raleigh during this series. The Hurricanes have won five straight on the road, outscoring their opponents by a whopping 27-7 margin. They eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning (in Game 5), Toronto Maple Leafs (in Game 7) and Hurricanes (in Game 5) all on the road.
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The Hurricanes were 32-0 in the regular season and playoffs when leading by two goals or more and 6-0 in the postseason when scoring first. The Panthers ended each streak, and did so in typical fashion, with five different goal scorers and 10 skaters recording at least one point Wednesday. When Rodrigues scored in the second period, he became the 19th different Panthers skater to score a goal in this postseason.
A deciding factor in Game 5 was special teams play. The Hurricanes were 0-for-6 on the power play, and the Panthers were 1-for-4, scoring just their second road power-play goal in the playoffs.
The Hurricanes who improved to 18-18 all-time in playoff elimination games with their victory Monday, dropped back under .500 with this Game 5 loss. They also fell to 1-16 in their past 17 games in the conference final dating to 2009 (1-12 with Rod Brind-Amour as coach).
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The Panthers got three previously injured players back in the lineup for Game 5 — Mikkola, Sam Reinhart and A.J. Greer . But they lost another key player late in the first period, when Eetu Luostarinen missed a hit and went flying into the boards at 17:12. He staggered heading back to the bench and didn't return. The 26-year-old forward was ruled out by the Panthers at the start of the second period.
Two shifts before that massive missed hit, Luostarinen was cross-checked hard by Carolina's Carrier. It's unknown if that also contribited to him leaving the game.
A staple on Florida's productive third line, Luostarinen entered Game 5 tied for the NHL lead with 12 road points (four goals, eight assists) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
