The Florida Panthers opened the Eastern Conference Final with an impressive 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, thanks to goals from five different players and a 31-save effort from Sergei Bobrovsky.
After weathering a bit of storm at the outset, the Panthers took advantage of a retaliatory roughing call on Sebastian Aho to open the scoring at the 8:30 mark. Aleksander Barkov traded passes with Matthew Tkachuk before centering into the slot to Carter Verhaeghe, who deftly settled the puck and then whipped it upstairs on his backhand. Just a fantastic finish by Verhaeghe.
Florida second goal came 4:29 later when Jordan Staal fumbled the puck and Evan Rodrigues took possession below the goal line and rounded the net before feeding Aaron Ekblad in the left circle. Ekblad slung the puck by defenseman Scott Morrow and off the plumbing to beat a helpless Frederik Andersen up high.
A mistake in the situational awareness department cost the Cats a goal late in the frame. With time ticking down, instead of making a safe play, Gustav Forsling tried to hit Sam Bennett with a blue line to blue line aerial pass that was gloved down by Scott Walker. The Hurricanes transitioned and bulldozed their way towards the net. Seth Jarvis crossed to Andrei Svechnikov and his pass in front deflected under Bobrovsky off the right skate of Aho at 19:44.
The Panthers would restore its two-goal advantage just 3:33 into the middle frame. After starting the rush, Niko Mikkola joined Tomas Nosek and A.J. Greer as the middleman in the 3-on-3 break that turned into a 2-on-1 lower in the zone. Nosek centered to the long tall Finn and he used his reach to backhand the puck over to Greer, who wristed the puck home before Andersen could slide to the other side.
Bennett would insert the dagger 6:08 into the third period, 97 seconds after Morrow shot the puck into the crowd. Florida was taking a rather lackadaisical approach to the ensuing power play, but the second unit came on and finally established possession. Bennett smacked the puck around the boards to Rodrigues, who passed back to him as he came back out high near the right point. Playoff Sam moved towards the middle and snapped off a long shot that eluded the screened Andersen to put the Cats up by tres. Verhaeghe was credited with the second helper on the goal, which came on the Panthers’ first shot in over fifteen minutes.
Florida’s final tally of the night came at 14:55, following an offensive zone faceoff win. The puck came back to Forsling, whose miss wide left the puck behind the net. Nosek, who won the draw, retrieved and was able to take advantage of the lazy stick placement of Shayne Gostisbehere and throw the puck out in front to Eetu Luostarinen. Luostarinen drove the pass into the top of the net to take the team scoring lead with 13 points.
The Hurricanes would convert a roughing call on Jonah Gadjovich with 3:41 remaining on the clock to complete the scoring. Jackson Blake tapped in a return pass from Jarvis after he first put the moves on Ekblad and his dish got Bobrovsky to over-commit. The secondary assist went to Gostisbehere.
The Panthers picked right back up where they left off in Toronto, playing another stellar road game in a hostile environment. Carolina got off to a physical start and generated some good scoring chances, but it didn’t take long for the Cats to tilt the ice and make the Hurricanes pay for their mistakes, both mental and physical. The quick answer to Aho’s goal, off a beautiful rush by the fourth line and Mikkola, was a key moment as the Panthers cruised to the tone-setting Game 1 victory, handing Carolina its first home loss in the process.
Category Five
- Sergei Bobrovsky was named First Star for his fine 31-save effort. After a rough first seven periods in the Toronto series, Bobrovsky has rounded back into form, giving up just six goals over the last five games.
- Carter Verhaeghe (1G/1A), Evan Rodrigues (2A), Tomas Nosek (2A) and Carolina’s Seth Jarvis (2A) produced multi-point performances in Game 1.
- Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk each collected their tenth point of the playoffs during the tilt, giving Florida eight double-digit scorers.
- Tough nights were had by Frederik Andersen, who came into the game with 1.36 GAA, and rookie defenseman Scott Morrow. Andersen was beaten five times on 20 shots. Morrow went minus-three and was in the penalty box for Bennett’s big power-play marker.
- A.J. Greer scored his second career postseason goal and it turned out to be his first playoff game-winner. Good stuff for the hardworking fourth-liner, who has chipped in three points in nine games.
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