Panthers advance to Stanley Cup Final for third straight year, eliminate Hurricanes: Takeaways

New York Times

a day ago

SUNRISE, Fla. — For the sixth straight year, the Stanley Cup will run through Florida.
Down two goals heading into the second period after a brutal opening period Wednesday, the Florida Panthers scored three times in the second period, then held off an attempted third-period comeback by the Carolina Hurricanes to take Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final by a 5-3 score and claim the Prince of Wales Trophy for the third consecutive season.
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In the three years prior, the Tampa Bay Lightning won the East.
Seth Jarvis sent Lenovo Center into orbit by scoring the tying goal in the third period, but Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov withstood being held by Dmitry Orlov, freed himself and set up Mr. Clutch himself, Carter Verhaeghe, for his latest big playoff goal with 7:39 left in the third period.
Verhaeghe, who has scored 32 goals in 86 career playoff games, now has three series-clinching goals with Florida.
https://t.co/kgUcwv6REH pic.twitter.com/tTmjju4zHz
— x – Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 29, 2025
It was Florida's first multi-goal comeback to clinch a series in franchise history, and the Panthers became the fifth team in the past 30 years with a multi-goal comeback win to clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Final.
They also became the seventh team since the 1967-68 expansion to appear in at least three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals and the second since the New York Islanders went to four straight during their 1980 to '84 dynasty.
If the Oilers, up 3-1 in their series with Dallas, advance, this would be the first Stanley Cup Final rematch since 2008 and 2009 when the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins met in back-to-back years. Detroit won in 2008 and Pittsburgh in 2009.
After Sebastian Aho scored twice in the first period, Matthew Tkachuk and Evan Rodrigues scored 30 seconds apart in the second followed by Anton Lundell 4:06 later.
Up 4-3 late, the Panthers killed a late Carolina power play, and Sam Bennett came out of the box to score an empty-net goal to ice things.
The Panthers, who will start the Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton or Dallas, won all three road games in the series and have won five in a row away from South Florida. They outscored the Toronto Maple Leafs and Canes 27-7 in those past five road games. They are 8-2 on the road in the playoffs.
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Here are takeaways from Wednesday night.
Tkachuk, who snapped a 10-game goal drought in Game 2 of the series, sparked the comeback with a goal and an assist 30 seconds apart in the second period.
With the Panthers' power play in an 0-for-10 drought and shotless on two consecutive power plays in the first period with a chance to tie, Tkachuk redirected Aaron Ekblad's shot to cut the deficit to 2-1 just 20 seconds after the Panthers successfully killed a Seth Jones minor.
TKACHUK ON THE POWERPLAY, WE GOT A GAME FOLKS 👀 pic.twitter.com/AxyzsFCK4S
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 29, 2025
On the next shift, with Rodrigues taking Carter Verhaeghe's spot on the Bennett-Tkachuk line, Tkachuk took a hit from Jordan Martinook by the Florida bench to send Rodrigues into the zone.
Rodrigues completed a give-and-go with Bennett for his first goal of the playoffs. Florida now has 19 different goal scorers in the playoffs.
EVAN RODRIGUES! Two goals in 30 seconds for the Panthers and we're all tied up at 2!#TimeToHunt | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/0mIGIJn6uY
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) May 29, 2025
The Panthers weren't done.
After a faceoff win by Lundell, on a set play, he drove the net as Brad Marchand grabbed the puck, slid down the left-wing boards and centered a pass for a goalmouth roof shot by Lundell for a 3-2 lead.
The Panthers scored on three of their seven shots in the second.
LUNDELL!! FLORIDA HAS TAKEN A 3-2 LEAD IN GAME 5 😱 pic.twitter.com/jRVaaiyKAy
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 29, 2025
When Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen was benched earlier in the series, getting yanked at the second intermission of Game 3 and not playing at all in Game 3, it wasn't due to any particularly egregious goals allowed. He wasn't getting embarrassed.
There is, though, a cumulative effect to allowing nine goals on 36 shots, as he did before giving way to Pyotr Kochetkov. Andersen wasn't terrible — the other guys get paid too, as the saying goes. He also wasn't good enough.
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Florida's three-goal second period followed a similar script. There was nothing Andersen could've done on Tkachuk's goal. For Rodrigues' and Lundell's, though, there were plays to be made. Andersen seemed to be late picking up the puck off Rodrigues' stick, for example, and he could've used his stick to make things more difficult on Lundell. The end result was an extreme momentum swing and three goals for Florida on their first 10 shots.
Andersen is a good goaltender. For two rounds, he might have been Carolina's best player. Against Florida, though, his play dipped, and the Hurricanes suffered.
Panthers coach Rod Brind'Amour, at every possible juncture, has stressed the importance of scoring the first goal — even more than the average NHL coach. His team failed to do that in Games 1, 2 and 3, then lost. In Game 4, they took care of business and extended the series. In Game 5, they struck first again; Aho scored on a breakaway four minutes, 39 seconds into the game, sending Lenovo Center into an early bit of overdrive.
Aho created the chance for himself when he picked off an ill-advised pass from Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling. It was a rare mistake from one of the league's most reliable defenseman, and it came after gloving a clear attempt by Andrei Svechnikov at center ice.
The sequence — Carolina forcing a bad play, catching a bit of good luck and taking advantage — reminded us of something Svechnikov said ahead of the game.
'We obviously played good (in a 3-0 Game 4 win) but also you got to have, maybe, a few lucky bounces (that go) your way and that's what's going we're looking for,' Svechnikov said.