Tuesday night opened the 2025 Eastern Conference Final between the Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes. This is the second time in three years the two franchises have met in this exact spot in the postseason. In Game 1, Florida dominated and picked up another key win in their quest to win back-to-back Stanley Cups.
The Cats eased their way to a 5-2 victory that was punctuated by their rich pool of depth and clutch goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky. After a slow start to the game, Florida opened the scoring with a power-play tally from Carter Verhaeghe at the 08:30 mark of the first period. A few minutes later, Aaron Ekblad scored his third goal of the postseason.
After Sebastian Aho scored the Canes' first goal to pull within one late in the first period, the Panthers followed that up with three unanswered goals between the second and third periods. At the 03:33 mark of the second period, A.J. Greer notched his second goal of the postseason to make it 3-1. In the third, Sam Bennett scored Florida's second power-play goal.
Eetu Luostarinen then scored his fourth postseason goal to make the score 5-1. Despite Jackson Blake scoring for Carolina to make the deficit more respectable, the damage had already been done. The Panthers came into the Lenovo Center and stole the home-ice advantage from the Hurricanes. Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves. Now, Florida will look to go up 2-0 in the series before heading back home.
How To Watch Panthers vs. Hurricanes, Game 2
Date: Thursday, May 22 Time: 8:00 PM ET Venue: Lenovo Center TV: TNT, Tru TV, MAX
Panthers vs. Hurricanes Odds, Spreads, and Total
Odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook
Puck Line
Florida +1.5 (-245) Carolina -1.5 (+200)
Total
5.5 (over -105/ under -115)
Moneyline
Florida +110 Carolina -130
Florida Panthers Injury Report
N/A
Carolina Hurricanes Injury Report
Jalen Chatfield, D: Day-To-Day (undisclosed); Mark Jankowski, C: Day-To-Day (undisclosed); Jesper Fast, RW: IR-LT (Neck)
Florida Panthers Projected Lines:
- Evan Rodrigues- Aleksander Barkov- Sam Reinhart
- Carter Verhaeghe- Sam Bennett- Matthew Tkachuk
- Eetu Luostarinen- Anton Lundell- Brad Marchand
- A.J. Greer- Tomas Nosek- Jonah Gadjovich
- Gustav Forsling- Aaron Ekblad
- Niko Mikkola- Seth Jones
- Nate Schmidt- Dmitry Kulikov
- Sergei Bobrovsky
- Vitek Vanacek
Scratches: Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm, Jesper Boqvist
Carolina Hurricanes Projected Lines:
- Andrei Svechnikov- Sebastian Aho- Seth Jarvis
- Taylor Hall- Jack Roslovic- Logan Stankoven
- Jordan Martinook- Jordan Staal- William Carrier
- Eric Robinson- Jesperi Kotkaniemi- Jackson Blake
- Jaccob Slavin- Brent Burns
- Dmitry Orlov- Sean Walker
- Shayne Gostisbehere- Scott Morrow
- Frederik Andersen
- Pyotr Kochetkov
Scratches: Sean Walker, Alexander Nikishin
Panthers Keys To the Game
One of Florida's biggest issues during the last few years has nothing to do with talent. They have also been a hungry group that wants to win. They are motivated. However, sometimes they've had mental lapses on the ice. That has been the case when the team has been put in a situation where they can close out a playoff series. Sometimes, they just stop playing and look lazy.
If you were to look at this team's playoff history over the last three years, you'll see what we're talking about. However, you wouldn't have to look far to find good examples. Take a glimpse at the start of the second round series versus Toronto. Florida has always been a better team than the Leafs. However, they went down 0-2 because the team wasn't mentally there at all.
Fortunately, they won the next three, but once again, they failed to deliver a few nights later. In Game 6, Florida got shut out in their barn in their first chance to clinch the series. Because of their lack of energy to begin the game, they started slow, and as a result, they were forced to fly north of the border to play a Game 7. They can't stop playing. Not against this team. Carolina will come out with more force for Game 2.
You know that the Hurricanes won't want to go down 0-2 before flying to South Florida. They will turn up the intensity. The Panthers have to be ready and can't go blank during the game. In Game 1 on Tuesday night, Carolina recorded the final nine shots on net in the second period. The players should and do have confidence in Sergei Bobrovsky.
Sometimes, it feels like they are too confident in him. They can't leave him out to dry, and he shouldn't be forced to make lots of game-changing saves like this. He's not going to make all these saves. Don't daydream or get lost out there.
The last key leads into this one in a way. The Panthers need to play smarter hockey. Sometimes, it looks as if they forget how to play, and it shows. At times. certain guys are slow to react or are found behind the play. However, this is more aimed at some of the turnovers these guys commit. Take, for instance, Sebastian Aho's goal in Game 1. How did this happen? Well, watch closely.
The whole play is not shown, but this goal was the result of Aaron Ekblad skating into the neutral zone and trying to flip a lob pass over the defense to Sam Bennett, who is not in the frame at the start of this clip. He was in the offensive zone. Rather than dump the puck in, which is Florida's bread and butter, Ekblad tried to chip it over and it didn't work.
Instead, Carolina forced the turnover and took it the other way. Around the 0:04 mark is when you'll see Bennett come back and return to the defensive zone, but by then, it was too late. The Hurricanes were able to create a brief 3-on-2 rush, and they were able to capitalize on it. Debate all you want on whether this goal should've counted or not. However, the Panthers can't get careless and too cute.
They need to stick with their game and system. That is what's gotten them here. Don't stray away from it and take good care of the puck at all times. Don't commit bad turnovers, especially in the neutral zone, because Carolina will make the Cats pay with their relentless speed on the forecheck.
This has been an area of Florida's game that hasn't been mentioned amongst the masses much, yet. The Panthers have struggled mightily in winning at the face-off dot. It's been a problem that has hindered the team all throughout the postseason. It is interesting to note the Cats weren't that great winning draws during the regular season, as they ranked 20th in the league(49.4%).
But still, this can't go on for much longer. Winning draws also shouldn't be a problem for them. The Panthers have some of the best face-off winners in the league, such as Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell. In Game 1, Carolina won 60% of the draws. People don't realize how important this aspect of a hockey game is.
The Hurricanes will cause lots of noise in the offensive zone all series. Florida has to limit them from doing so as much as possible. That starts at the dot. The defensive zone draws are the most important. You can't let the Canes keep winning face-offs and getting set up in the offensive zone. That won't be fun to deal with at all. The Panthers need to tighten this up. It's self-explanatory.
Notes:
- Sergei Bobrovsky (8-2, 1.54 GAA, .945 SV%, and 2 SO in CF/SF) earned his ninth win in the round before the final, which ties Jonathan Quick(9-8) for the second most among active goaltenders behind Andrei Vasilevskiy(18-15).
- Sergei Bobrovsky(36 years, 242 days) and Frederik Andersen(35 years, 230 days) marked the first Conference Finals contest in over 13 years to feature two starting goaltenders aged 35 or older. The last occurrence was Game 7 of the 2011 Conference Finals between Tampa Bay’s Dwayne Roloson(41 years, 227 days) and Boston’s Tim Thomas(37 years, 42 days).
- Matthew Tkachuk assisted on Carter Verhaeghe’s game-opening goal. Tkachuk recorded a point in each of the four games of the 2023 Eastern Conference Final against the Hurricanes.
- Aleksander Barkov(22-48—70) assisted on the opening goal and became the first player in Panthers history with 70 career postseason points. He also became the seventh Finnish player to reach the mark.
- Carter Verhaeghe has scored at least five goals in each of the past four postseasons, matching Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl for the longest active run among all players.
- Aaron Ekblad scored his seventh career playoff goal and surpassed Gord Kluzak and Chris Phillips for the fourth most by a defenseman selected first overall in the NHL Draft. The list is topped by Denis Potvin(56), Ed Jovanovski(11), and Rob Ramage(8).
- The Panthers scored at least three goals for the sixth consecutive road contest, the second-longest run in franchise history behind a seven-game stretch in 2023. Florida’s 36 road goals are the most by any team this postseason and 16 more than the next closest team (Edmonton: 20).
- Florida has scored 36 goals through its first eight road games of the playoffs, tied for the fourth most by a team in NHL history. The only clubs with as many: Colorado (38 in 2022), NY Islanders (37 in 1981), Edmonton (37 in 1985), and Chicago (36 in 1985).
- Sam Bennett became the third Panthers player to score seven-plus goals in consecutive postseasons, joining Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart(both: 2023-2024).
- Eetu Luostarinen scored his first postseason goal against his former club and recorded his team-leading 13th point of the playoffs. He is the one piece remaining from the Vincent Trochek trade from February of 2020.
- Sergei Bobrovsky surpassed Gerry Cheevers(53) and tied Terry Sawchuk(54) for 19th place in wins in Stanley Cup Playoffs history. The only other active goaltender among the top 20 is Andrei Vasilevskiy(67; 12th), excluding the recently retired Marc-Andre Fleury(92; t-3rd).
- The Panthers extended their playoff win streak against the Hurricanes to five games, dating to Game 1 of the 2023 Conference Finals. The last team to earn five consecutive wins against a single opponent in the round before the Final was the Red Wings against the Blackhawks (6 GP from Game 4 of the 1966 SF to Game 3 of the 1995 CF).