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

New York Times

timean hour ago

  • Entertainment
  • New York Times

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

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. Advertisement 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. — 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. Advertisement 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 👀 — 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 — 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 😱 — 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. Advertisement 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.

Mathieu Darche has plenty of Islanders questions to answer — beginning with Patrick Roy
Mathieu Darche has plenty of Islanders questions to answer — beginning with Patrick Roy

New York Post

time2 hours ago

  • Sport
  • New York Post

Mathieu Darche has plenty of Islanders questions to answer — beginning with Patrick Roy

Mathieu Darche's unveiling as general manager of the Islanders will finally take place on Thursday, nearly a week after the 48-year-old was tapped as the successor to Lou Lamoriello, with a news conference at UBS Arena. Now that their monthlong search for someone to head up hockey operations is finally over, the focus turns to what could be an offseason packed with change. Advertisement Darche will have his hands full right from the get-go with key decisions surrounding the coaching and front office staff, the roster, the No. 1 pick in next month's draft and the overall direction of a franchise that's waited so long for change that it might just all come at once. Here are some of the biggest questions he'll need to address on Thursday. Will Patrick Roy be the head coach next season? The biggest question for Darche is the most obvious. If yes, then Darche and Roy will need to build a relationship quickly and Darche will need to navigate everything that comes with Roy's personality. Advertisement If no, then the monthlong GM search that ended Friday becomes a coaching search — with the Islanders showing up late to the carousel. 5 Islanders head coach Patrick Roy's future remains up in air. James Guillory-Imagn Images What, if any, changes will there be to the hockey operations staff aside from Roy? In no particular order, this question is regarding the status of NHL assistant coaches John MacLean, Benoit Desrosiers and Tommy Albelin, AHL Bridgeport coach Rick Kowalsky, assistant GMs Steve Pellegrini and Chris Lamoriello, goalie coach Piero Greco, the scouting staff, the analytics staff and the player development staff. Advertisement If there are changes further down on that list — particularly scouting-wise — now likely isn't the time for them, since the Islanders have just a month before making the No. 1 pick, so it's not really the moment to start firing scouts. Further up the list, though, if there are changes coming, Darche should be making those decisions soon. Will Lou Lamoriello work for the Islanders next season, and if so, in what capacity? Lamoriello and Darche have a relationship dating back to Darche's playing career, and rumors circulated during the GM search that Lamoriello would be kept on as a senior advisor, perhaps to owner Scott Malkin. Advertisement If he's still around, it will be an ongoing question throughout the season whether Lamoriello is influencing hockey decisions. 5 Mathieu Darche will be taking over the Islanders' GM role. Getty Images 5 There have been rumbling around the Islanders that Lou Lamoriello will be kept as a special advisor. Corey Sipkin / New York Post How close does Darche feel the Islanders are to being a Stanley Cup contender? The Islanders were 35-35-12 last season and never looked like a serious contender, but suffered frequent injuries and have the No. 1 pick this summer along with some cap space. Does Darche believe the injection of a couple of young players in Cal Ritchie plus the top pick, along with the right moves in free agency, can fix the Islanders? Or does he think it will require more serious roster reconstruction? What will the Islanders do with the No. 1 pick? 5 Many experts believe Matthew Schaeffer, who played for the Erie Otters last season, will be take by the Islanders with the overall No. 1 pick in the NHL draft. Getty Images We're not expecting Darche to come out and say who he's planning to take — actually it would be a surprise if he was certain about that even in private, though consensus opinion among draft experts is coalescing around defenseman Matthew Schaefer as the top pick. Advertisement Still, it'll be interesting to see how Darche describes his approach to the pick and whether he's open to moving it. How will the Islanders allocate their cap space this summer? The Islanders are projected to have just short of $30 million in space this summer, but if they're planning to more or less keep the roster together, then most of it will go to that end. 5 The Islanders, under Lou Lamoriello, were expected to give Kyle Palmieri an extension, but will that still be the case under the Mathieu Darche' regime. NHLI via Getty Images The two big sub-questions here are Kyle Palmieri and Noah Dobson. Advertisement Lamoriello kept Palmieri at the trade deadline with the intention of signing an extension — does Darche keep things moving along that track or does he view it differently? And with Dobson, a restricted free agent, does Darche view him as a No. 1 defenseman who's worth $10 million-plus annually or is he a little more skeptical, which might mean an openness to trading Dobson's rights or letting him walk via offer sheet? How involved will John Collins be in hockey operations? Collins, a minority owner and operating partner, ran the GM search and will speak alongside Darche at Thursday's presser. Advertisement His expertise is on the business side, and it's a safe bet that he'll have a major say in reshaping that part of the Islanders operation; it's less clear whether he'll be a part of hockey ops. We know from the news release announcing the hire that Darche 'will manage all aspects of the team's hockey operations' but not whether he will have final say.

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