The Florida Panthers took firm control of the Eastern Conference Final by scoring thrice on five first period shots in Thursday’s 5-0 Game 2 rout of the Carolina Hurricanes at a depressed Lenovo Center. Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe combined for three goals and eight points as the hard-working Cats swept the set in Raleigh. Gustav Forsling started things off with his first of the postseason (now, all seven of Florida’s defensemen have lit the lamp!) and captain Aleksander Barkov completed the scoring with a third period power-play goal. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 17 shots faced to post his league-leading third playoff shutout. After rolling through the first two rounds of the postseason, the Hurricanes are looking for solutions. They have now lost six straight third round games to the surging Panthers dating back to 2023. Sam Reinhart will not play tonight. His spot will be filled by Jesper Boqvist.
- WHEN: 8 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: TNT
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), Real Radio 92.1 (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #RaiseUp, #CARvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Canes Country
- SERIES: Panthers lead 2-0
- LAST MEETING: FLA 5, @CAR 0 – (Recap) 5/22/2025
- NEXT MEETING: Game 4 – May 26, 2025
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (10-4 .901 / 2.13 3SO) Carolina: Kochetkov (1-0 .891 / 2.57 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Carolina
Western Conference Final
Edmonton Oilers 3, Dallas Stars 0 (Series tied 1-1)