6 days ago
- Entertainment
- National Post
'Let's go, Oilers,' some defiant fans chant as Panthers head back to the Stanley Cup Final
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'They're a great team and it's obvious the last couple of years, they're the standard, obviously,' Brind'Amour said. 'I thought our guy battled really hard all series.'
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Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell scored on consecutive shots during Florida's second-period flurry — two of those coming in a 30-second span — while Bobrovsky finished with 20 saves.
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Barkov's assist on Verhaeghe's winner also stood out as its own terrific individual effort. Florida's captain was jostling with Carolina's Dmitry Orlov in a battle near the boards on the left side when he turned toward the crease, stepped inside of Eric Robinson and sent the puck over to Verhaeghe for the finish that silenced a Hurricanes home crowd in full-throated roar after Jarvis' tying score.
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'He took on one guy, then two guys and then gave the puck to me with a pretty open net,' Verhaeghe said. 'So it was an unbelievable play by Barky at a critical time.'
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Sebastian Aho scored twice in the first period for Carolina, both on neutral-zone giveaways — the first being one from Gustav Forsling that hit Aho in stride for a a breakaway chance that ended up in the net. Aho added another off a giveaway from Niko Mikkola with little more than a minute left in the first for a 2-0 lead.
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Carolina has won at least one postseason series in its current run of seven straight playoff appearances, though three have now ended in the Eastern final. Two of those had ended in sweeps in a losing conference-final losing streak that reached 15 games _ dating to sweeps in 2009, 2019 and the 2023 first tilt with the Panthers — before Monday's Game 4 win.
