The Florida Panthers couldn’t find the back of the net in a 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final at Amerant Bank Arena, so the series will return to Raleigh.
Florida was outplayed by the Hurricanes and hurt by a reluctance to shoot when they had open looks and a failure to get the puck to the net. An absolutely abysmal 0-for-4 performance on the power play didn’t help matters either.
Logan Stankoven scored the eventual game-winning goal 10:45 into the second period. The Hurricanes burned the Panthers after Seth Jones broke up a pass in the neutral zone. Rookie Alexander Nikishin’s backhand pass to Stankoven caught the Cats out of position and he skated in on Sergei Bobrovsky and ripped a perfect shot into the top corner.
Nate Schmidt would come close shortly after, blasting a shot from the left point that rang off the near post.
After being held to just 12 shots over the first forty minutes, the Panthers were a little more lively in the third. Unfortunately, they failed to do anything with their two man-advantage chances, and as soon as they pulled Bobrovsky for an extra attacker, Matthew Tkachuk turned the puck over to Seth Jarvis and he passed to Andrei Svechnikov, who fed Sebastian Aho for the clincher with 2:11 left on the clock.
Jordan Staal would add another empty-netter, from Brent Burns, 26 seconds later to complete the scoring.
Frederik Andersen returned to the net to make 20 saves and post a relatively easy shutout.
The negative: Florida is now just 4-3 on home ice during the postseason and were again out of sorts in front of the home faithful, failing for the second straight series to deliver the knockout blow in Sunrise. The positive: The Hurricanes played far and away their best game of the series and essentially (barely) won 1-0. Los Gatos will get another chance to end Carolina’s season Wednesday night at Lenovo Center.
Category Five
- The Panthers inept offensive performance wasted a stellar start from Sergei Bobrovksy, who held them in the game by making 27 saves on 28 shots faced. Bobrovsky lowered his GAA to 2.05 and upped his save percentage to .914.
- After producing a goal and an assist in Game 3, Logan Stankoven notched his fifth goal, and second game-winner, of the playoffs to give the Hurricanes their first lead of the series.
- Rookie defenseman Alexander Nikishin assist on Stankoven’s goal was his first point in the NHL. Nikishin, who was credited with five hits, was making just his third appearance with the Hurricanes.
- Evan Rodrigues was the only Panther to register three shots on goal. He was also credited with four hits in his 17:02 of ice time. Rodrigues is just look for his first goal of the postseason.
- Florida’s penalty kill bounced back after giving up two goals in Game 3. They stopped all three of Carolina’s power-play opportunities.
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