Panthers on brink of their 3rd straight Stanley Cup Final after another rout of Hurricanes

New York Times

25-05-2025

SUNRISE, Fla. — Fifty-goal scorers who double as Selke finalists don't grow on trees, but as hard as figured to be for the Florida Panthers to replace injured forward Sam Reinhart, coach Paul Maurice made it crystal clear Saturday morning that they don't have the depth they think they have if one injury derails them.
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Enter Jesper Boqvist out of the bullpen. Always ready when called upon, the forward played 78 regular-season games but has had to take a back seat this postseason.
On Saturday night, Boqvist reentered the lineup and made it count, scoring a game-swinging goal 89 seconds into the third period. Schooling Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov on the play, Boqvist snapped a 1-1 tie to trigger a five-goal third-period explosion and utter dominance by the Panthers en route to a 6-2 pounding in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final.
The win put the Carolina Hurricanes on the brink of elimination and the Panthers on the cusp of their third straight Stanley Cup Final appearance.
Niko Mikkola scored his second goal of the game less than five minutes later, then Aleksander Barkov scored the first of two goals in a row 29 seconds later. Brad Marchand added another for good measure as a 1-1 game shockingly became 6-1 Panthers by the 10:37 mark.
Barkov and Boqvist each finished with three points, while Evan Rodrigues and Matthew Tkachuk had two assists each. Sergei Bobrovsky, who has allowed eight goals in his past seven starts, made 23 saves.
It was the Panthers' seventh consecutive win over the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final after sweeping them in 2023. In what was expected to be a low-scoring series, Carolina has been outscored 16-4 by Florida.
Florida became the third team in the past 30 years to score five-plus goals in four consecutive postseason games, following the Colorado Avalanche (in 2024 and 2021 and the Detroit Red Wings in 1995.
In an attempt to change the vibes, Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour started Pyotr Kochetkov over Freddie Andersen, who allowed nine goals in the first two games and was pulled after two periods in Game 2. Kochetkov entered the game 2-0 lifetime against Florida in the regular season with a .986 save percentage.
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It worked for two periods until the wheels fell off the Hurricanes.
The loss extended Carolina's losing streak in Eastern Conference final to 15 games after the Canes were swept in 2009, 2019 and 2023.
The Hurricanes got a nightmarish game from Orlov, who was a well-earned minus-4. Carolina's blue line entered severely undermanned without defenseman Jalen Chatfield as well Sean Walker, who warmed up but couldn't go and was replaced by rookie Alexander Nikishin.
Game 4 is Monday night.
This story will be updated.