By Brian Murphy, WRAL News
| Florida Panthers | 5 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 0 |
| Final | |
Raleigh, N.C. — The loudest house in the NHL was silenced and turned against its own Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, and the team now faces a difficult task two games into the Eastern Conference Final.
The series is fast becoming a coronation of the Florida Panthers, winners of the last two conference finals, at the expense of the Hurricanes. Florida dominated the Hurricanes 5-0 in Raleigh in Game 2, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and sapping all of the energy from the Lenovo Center crowd.
Carolina has not led for one second of the series, and it feels worse than that. A “whooping” is how captain Jordan Staal described it.
“There was nothing good on this game for us,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the loss. “We’re going to have to learn from it, but everybody has to be better.”
Florida took the lead less than 80 seconds into Game 2 and the Canes never really came close to scoring. The offensive effort was so poor that fans began chanting “shoot the puck, shoot the puck” at times in the second period. They booed the home team at times.
Carolina, known for its volume of shots, had just seven shots on goal through two periods and 17 in the game. It is the fewest shots for the Hurricanes in any game since 2014 and the fewest for them in a playoff game since the 2006 Stanley Cup Final.
“That’s just not our game, right?” Carolina forward Taylor Hall said. “That’s just not how we play. We generate offense by shooting pucks and getting them back, and then we draw a penalty, we get a rebound, we generate momentum and [offensive] zone face-offs by doing that. We just weren’t able to do it. We had chances to shoot and we didn’t. I think we’re all a little bit at a loss.”
The Hurricanes led the NHL with 31 home victories this season and were 5-0 at home through two rounds of these playoffs. But the Panthers, reigning Stanley Cup champs, outclassed Carolina in Game 2. Florida has outscored the Hurricanes 10-2 through two games, and Carolina pulled goaltender Frederik Anderson after two periods.
Andersen had been spectacular through two rounds, but he has allowed nine goals in five periods against Florida. Andersen entered the series with a 1.36 goals against average in the postseason. Florida scored three goals on five shots on goal in the first period. The Hurricanes pulled Andersen for the third period and replaced him with backup Pyotr Kochetkov.
“It wouldn’t have mattered who we had in the net tonight,” Brind’Amour said. “It wasn’t on him.”
Early in the first, Andrei Svechnikov turned the puck over in the Hurricanes’ zone, leading to a goal by Gustav Forsling off a pass from Matthew Tkachuk. It was Forsling’s first goal of the playoffs, and a poor start for Carolina.
Later in the period, the Panthers kept the puck in the Carolina zone, ending up with a 2-on-1 in front of the net. Tkachuk got enough of Carter Verhaeghe’s pass across the crease to score past Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen for a 2-0 lead.
Florida scored on the game’s first power play in the final minutes of the first period. Svechnikov was called for roughing on Tkachuk to give Florida the man advantage. Carolina had its best chance of the game shorthanded, but Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped Jordan Martinook. Later in the power play, Sam Bennett deflected a Verhaeghe shot past Andersen.
“He had a tough night,” Brind’Amour said of Svechnikov. “We know he’s trying but you got to it within the way we need to, be on the same page. He was on his own page tonight a little bit. Didn’t work.”
Said Svechnikov: “Tough. No question about it. It happens sometimes. Just got to stay controlled and stay positive. Unfortunately, first period I didn’t do it.”
The Panthers added a fourth goal late in the second period when Bennett jammed another one home, and a fifth on the power play by Aleksander Barkov in the third period.
“We didn’t play up to our capabilities in those first two games,” Hall said. “And, obviously, the start of the games were what put us in holes. They’re a very good team. They play hard, they play together. They do a lot of things well, all around the ice, so it’s going to be difficult for us, but we can’t really evaluate much until we stay that we played close to our best.”
Carolina has now lost 14 straight Eastern Conference Final games, dating back four series. The Hurricanes have lost six straight ECF games to the Panthers, including a sweep in 2023.
Injuries may become a factor as well for Carolina.
Defenseman Sean Walker missed about 11 minutes in the second period and didn’t play at all in the final period. Forward Seth Jarvis had just one shift in the final in the final 16 minutes of the game.
Brind’Amour said he didn’t have an update on either player.
The Hurricanes were also without defenseman Jalen Chatfield for the third consecutive game, a big loss. Chatfield was a last-minute scratch after participating in warm-ups. Mark Jankowski replaced Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the lineup for Game 2.
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Florida Panthers schedule
Game 1: Florida 5, Carolina 2
Game 2: Florida 5, Carolina 0
Game 3: Carolina at Florida, Saturday, May 24, 8 p.m. (TNT, 99.9 The Fan)
Game 4: Carolina at Florida, Monday, May 26, 8 p.m. (TNT, 99.9 The Fan)
Game 5: Florida at Carolina (if necessary), Wednesday, May 28, 8 p.m. (TNT, 99.9 The Fan)
Game 6: Carolina at Florida (if necessary), Friday, May 30, 8 p.m. (TNT, 99.9 The Fan)
Game 7: Florida at Carolina (if necessary), Sunday, June 1, 8 p.m. (TNT, 99.9 The Fan)
Postgame show: After each playoff game, WRAL’s Chris Lea and Pat Welter will break down the biggest moments with insider analysis from former NHL pro Shane Willis. Tune into WRAL at 11:25 p.m. for postgame coverage.
