The Florida Panthers took on the Carolina Hurricanes at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, for Game 1 of the 2025 Eastern Conference Final. Fortunately, for Panthers fans, it went well. Well might be an understatement, as Florida routed the Hurricanes, 5-2, to take a 1-0 series lead. The road win that was sorely needed has been knocked out of the way early.
Carolina won several statistical categories. They outshot Florida 33-20. The opposition also committed only 15 total turnovers between takeaways and giveaways. That's six fewer turnovers than the Panthers committed(21). The Hurricanes also won 60 percent of the draws in Tuesday night's contest. However, none of that mattered in the long run.
The first period started slowly as it took several minutes for either team to put a shot on net. At the 06:59 mark of the first period, Sebastian Aho took a roughing penalty against Anton Ludell. Florida made sure to make the Canes pay for Aho's error. Late in the Panthers' first power play, Carter Verhaeghe scored his fifth goal of the postseason on the backhand to give Florida a 1-0 lead.
The man affectionately known as 'Swaggy' has scored at least five goals in each of the last four postseasons. That officially matched him with Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl for the longest stretch among all active players. Almost four minutes later, longtime defenseman Aaron Ekblad continued his hot postseason run, scoring his third goal of these playoffs.
He caught a pass from Evan Rodrigues at the face-off circle to the right of Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen and fired it past him to make it 2-0. The goal gave Rodrigues his fifth assist of the postseason and his first of two on the night.
The hosting Canes found some life late in the first, though. After Ekblad got a little too greedy in trying to send a stretch pass to Sam Bennett over the defense, Carolina took advantage of the turnover, and at the 19:44 mark, Sebastian Aho lit the lamp for the fourth time in the playoffs. Heading into the second period, it seemed as if the Hurricanes got their mojo back.
It felt as if the game would be tight the whole way. However, that Aho tally would be the closest the home team would get to mounting a comeback. At the 03:33 mark of the second period, the Panthers' fourth line of A.J. Greer, Tomas Nosek, and Jonah Gadjovich each received a plus in the box score. Nosek chipped a pass for Niko Mikkola, who then fed Greer for a sweet goal to make the score 3-1.
When asked about the goal in the postgame presser, head coach Paul Maurice smiled and proclaimed that he got "mocked heavily on the bench" after the play leading to Greer's goal. He had some jokes.
""It was a wonderful inside play to Mikkola at the line, which I abhor. We are going to do everything we can to never see that again.""Paul Maurice
The Cats would keep their two-goal lead intact throughout the remainder of the middle frame, but things got scary. Over the last 10 minutes of that second period, Florida would fail to get another shot on goal. The squad wearing the black jerseys registered the final nine shots of the period. However, Sergei Bobrovsky stood tall and continued his clutch postseason play.
The Panthers would make the game a laugher in the final regulation period. Firstly, Sam Bennett scored his seventh goal of the 2025 playoffs at the 06:08 mark to make it 4-1. Make this another donation for the Benny's Buddies Charity. Who doesn't love supporting cute cats and dogs?
Lastly, Eetu Luostarinen made sure to pick up another road playoff point. At the 14:55 mark, the Finnish forward scored his fourth playoff goal after catching a perfect dish from Tomas Nosek from behind the net. Luostarinen has been a great road playoff performer for the Cats. He leads the NHL with the most away playoff points with 12.
At the 16:19 mark, Jackson Blake of the Hurricanes scored a garbage-time power-play goal to make the score a little more respectable. The game would end in a 5-2 score. The offensive barrage has been a theme for the Panthers in visiting arenas this postseason. Florida has scored 38 road goals in these playoffs.
"“We wanted to be ready for this game. We know how hard they play in this building. We wanted to be ready for this game. I think we got rewarded there early on. It was a good start by us. Overall, it was a good game.”"Aleksander Barkov
They have tied the 2022 Colorado Avalanche for the most goals scored by a team on the road through the first eight away playoff games in NHL history. They are now fifth in NHL history as of now for the highest road goals-per-game average, as they've scored an average of 4.75 goals away from home.
They are only behind the 1985 Canadiens(4.80), 2024 Avalanche(4.83), 1988 Capitals(4.83), and the 1985 Chicago Blackhawks(5.14). Florida's two power-play goals tied the amount given up by the Hurricanes during their first 10 games of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves on the winning effort.
Notably, Bobrovsky got hit several times by Carolina players throughout the game, even after the whistle blew at times. Typical of Bobby, he remained nonchalant about it, and after the game, he gave a brief answer when addressing the situation.
"It's OK. It's playoffs. They try to get under the skin. It's alright. I just focus on my things."Sergei Bobrovsky
The defending Stanley Cup Champions from the Sunshine State successfully took away home-ice advantage from the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. Game 1 is Carolina's first home loss this postseason. This was a great win considering their quick turnaround following their Game 7 elimination of Toronto last Sunday. Now, Florida will look to be greedy and get a second win in Carolina in Game 2 on Thursday night.