That thud you heard Tuesday night was the Carolina Hurricanes falling back down to earth, courtesy of the Florida Panthers, who won Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final 5-2 on the road at Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
After winning eight of 10 games, including all five on home ice, in these playoffs to reach the conference final for the second time in three seasons, the Hurricanes never led and received a master class in why the Panthers are the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Simply, the Hurricanes are not playing the injury-ravaged New Jersey Devils nor the compliant Washington Capitals any more. So, imposing their will and dictating the game on their terms wasn’t exactly in the cards for the Hurricanes on this night.
“We know what to do. We know the recipe. When everyone’s going and there’s a commitment to play a solid Panthers hockey game … it’s not easy, but it makes it hard for them,” said Florida’s fourth-line forward A.J. Greer, who scored a big goal in the second period.
The Panthers were nasty and effective. Plus, they got a terrific Game 1 performance from goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 31 of 33 shots. Most importantly, the Panthers largely took the Hurricanes out of their own game and made the home team chase almost all night.
What made this win even more impressive is that the Panthers played a massive Game 7 just two days before, hammering the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 in another huge road victory. But they were able to quickly refocus, commit to their relentless style of play and get contributions from up and down the lineup 48 hours later to take away home ice advantage from the Hurricanes, who hadn’t played in five days since eliminating the Capitals in Game 5 of their second-round series.
“There’s a lot of emotion in a Game 7. To be ready to compete as hard as you can, knowing that [the Hurricanes] had a few days rest and they’re playing in front of their fans? It was a huge win. Huge win and really happy,” Greer said.
After killing off an early Carolina power play, Florida scored a power-play goal of their own 8:30 into the first period to open the scoring. With Matthew Tkachuk acting as the facilitator behind the goal line, quickly moving the puck back and forth to create space for his teammates, Carter Verhaeghe went forehand, backhand and roofed a shot over Frederik Andersen’s shoulder to make it 1-0.
Four minutes later, the Panthers doubled their lead when defenseman Aaron Ekblad hammered a shot from the left circle through a screen and over Andersen’s glove to make it 2-0. The goal followed typical Florida pressure in the offensive zone that generated a turnover by Carolina captain Jordan Staal, with Evan Rodrigues making a quick dish to Ekblad seconds later.
Around the 15-minute mark, Bobrovsky made two excellent saves, one on a Sebastian Aho breakaway, the other on Seth Jarvis alone from in front. But there was nothing The Panthers goalie could do when a shot by Jarvis deflected off Aho’s skate and into the net with 14.8 seconds remaining in the first period to make it 2-1.
Florida contended there was a distinct kicking motion by Aho, the officials disagreed and the goal stood after video review. It was a massive goal late in the period and had the barn in Carolina rocking.
Until the Panthers imposed their will again early in the second period, that is.
Defenseman Niko Mikkola came from deep in his own end to join a 3-on-3 rush. He accepted a pass from Tomas Nosek, which created a 2-on-1 down low for the Panthers, who converted when Greer buried Mikkola’s slick feed at 3:33.
Any momentum Carolina had was gone in the flash of a defensive defenseman combining with the fourth line for a soul-crushing goal. Welcome to Florida Panthers hockey.
Sam Bennett scored a power-play goal and Eetu Luostarinen scored at even strength in the third period to make it 5-1, before Carolina’s Jackson Blake tapped in a power-play goal from the blue paint with 3:41 to play.
Game 2 is Thursday in Raleigh.
Related: NHL playoff predictions: Picks for conference finals, 2025 Stanley Cup champion
3 takeaways from Panthers’ Game 1 win over Hurricanes in Eastern Conference Final
1. Road warriors
The Panthers have won nine of 13 postseason games this spring, and are now 6-2 on the road. They took out the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, winning three times, including the decisive contest, in Tampa. Then they eliminated the Maple Leafs in seven games, getting must-win victories in Games 5 and 7 at Scotiabank Arena. Including the victory Tuesday in Raleigh, the Panthers have outscored their opponents 17-4 in their past three road games.
As several of their players said after that Game 7 win in Toronto, the Panthers style of play travels well.
So how smart do the Panthers look now after they kept their eyes on the big picture of the playoffs instead of gunning for first or second place in the Atlantic Division? They rested key players, several who were banged up physically, down the stretch, unconcerned that Toronto and Tampa Bay finished ahead of them in the Atlantic Division and secured home-ice advantage. That appears to be a very prudent strategy as we watch these playoffs play out.
2. Not-so-dandy Andy
It wasn’t that Andersen was bad in Game 1, it’s more a case of that he really didn’t make any memorable or momentum-changing saves. He was beaten twice on screened shots, once off a 2-on-1 rush, once off a brilliant finish by Verhaeghe and once on a blistering one-timer by an unchecked Luostarinen. Really, it’s hard to blame him for any of those goals.
But at the end of the night, Andersen allowed five goals on only 20 shots. That put a serious dent into the League-leading 1.36 goals-against average and .937 save percentage he carried into the series. More importantly, did it cause any doubt in his own mind? Remember, it was only a year ago that the Hurricanes lost in six games to the New York Rangers in the second round in large part because Andersen was badly outplayed by Igor Shesterkin.
On Tuesday, Andersen was clearly outplayed by Bobrovsky, the deserving First Star of Game 1. That doesn’t mean there’s any reason for Carolina to panic. Prior to Tuesday, Andersen had allowed as many as three goals once in these playoffs, and surrendered one or fewer six times. He needs better defensive play and positioning and battle level from his teammates. And, yes, he’ll need to make some timely saves moving forward, as well.
3. Carolina’s physical play, good strategy or bad?
When Carolina’s Shayne Gostisbehere shot the puck on purpose at Florida pest Brad Marchand in the third period, it was a clear sign of the Hurricanes’ frustration and just how far they veered off their game in the series opener. Somehow, Gostisbehere got away with what was obvious to everyone but the men wearing stripes, assessed only two minutes for roughing following the ensuing dust-up with Marchand.
Carolina was intent on beating Florida at its own game. The Hurricanes were credited with a whopping 23 hits in the first period, and all but five of their skaters had at least one. They played much more on the edge with their physical game than is typical for them, and the Hurricanes crossed the line several times with contact on Bobrovsky. Again, Carolina got away with this uncharacteristic strategy, including in the second period when Andrei Svechnikov was not penalized for his post-whistle drive-by through the blue paint when he made contact with Bobrovsky’s head.
But were they scrambling defensively, perhaps more out of position than usual, because they were so intent on laying another big hit? Or was Florida just better at everything Tuesday? Time will tell as this series plays out more. And it will be interesting to see if Carolina — which actually ended up being out-hit 48-47 — sticks with this uber-physical strategy or dials it back some, with more of an emphasis on sealing things off in the neutral zone and in their own end with solid five-man defensive play.
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