Defending champion Panthers head
back to Stanley Cup Final with 5-3 Game 5 win over Hurricanes
[May 29, 2025]
By AARON BEARD
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The horn sounded to signal a third straight
trip to the Stanley Cup Final, and the Florida Panthers celebrated
merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to to
congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a
regular-season win for the regining Cup champs.
“I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment
from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said,
adding: “It's all business and we've got a bigger goal in mind.”
The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games
Wednesday night with a 5-3 victory in the Eastern Conference final,
pushing ahead for good when Carter Verhaeghe broke a tie off a feed
from Aleksander Barkov with 7:39 left.
Florida beat the Hurricanes in the Eastern final for the second time
in three seasons. The Panthers will face the winner of the Western
final between Dallas and Edmonton, with the Oilers up 3-1 in that
best-of-seven series to put them within a win of a rematch with
Florida for the Cup.
Sam Bennett added an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left by skating
down a loose puck straight out of the penalty box after Florida had
held up against a critical late power play for the Hurricanes.
That capped a wild night that saw the Hurricanes jump to a 2-0 lead
by capitalizing on giveaways, and Florida answer with three
second-period goals, only to see Carolina's Seth Jarvis beat
Bobrovsky midway through the third to tie it at 3.
“That was all the elements that make our sport great," Florida coach
Paul Maurice said. “They're all over us. And we’re serving up pizzas
and we don't look like we should’ve made the playoffs, and then the
next thing you know we look pretty good.”
When it was over, the Panthers posed for pictures on Carolina's home
ice during the presentation of the Prince of Wales Trophy for the
conference winner. Some Hurricanes fans remained defiant, offering
scattered “Let's go, Oilers!” chants.
The angst is appropriate considering how Florida has now twice ended
Carolina's push to its first Cup Final since winning the franchise's
lone title in 2006 when now-coach Rod Brind'Amour was captain.
Florida had won the first three games of this series but lost 3-0 at
home Monday night as the Hurricanes averted a second straight sweep
against Florida. But by the final horn Wednesday, the Panthers had
won all three games in Raleigh in the series, pushed their road
winning streak in these playoffs to five games and earned an eighth
postseason road win overall.
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Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell (15) celebrates his goal with
center Brad Marchand, top right, and left wing Jonah Gadjovich (12)
while Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) and
center Sebastian Aho (20) react during the second period in Game 5
of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday,
May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
“They’re a great team and it’s obvious the last
couple of years, they’re the standard, obviously,” Brind’Amour said.
“I thought our guy battled really hard all series.”
Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell scored on consecutive
shots during Florida’s second-period flurry — two of those coming in
a 30-second span — while Bobrovsky finished with 20 saves.
Barkov’s assist on Verhaeghe’s winner also stood out as its own
terrific individual effort. Florida’s captain was jostling with
Carolina’s Dmitry Orlov in a battle near the boards on the left side
when he turned toward the crease, stepped inside of Eric Robinson
and sent the puck over to Verhaeghe for the finish that silenced a
Hurricanes home crowd in full-throated roar after Jarvis’ tying
score.
“He took on one guy, then two guys and then gave the puck to me with
a pretty open net,” Verhaeghe said. “So it was an unbelievable play
by Barky at a critical time.”
Sebastian Aho scored twice in the first period for Carolina, both on
neutral-zone giveaways — the first being one from Gustav Forsling
that hit Aho in stride for a a breakaway chance that ended up in the
net. Aho added another off a giveaway from Niko Mikkola with little
more than a minute left in the first for a 2-0 lead.
Carolina has won at least one postseason series in its current run
of seven straight playoff appearances, though three have now ended
in the Eastern final. Two of those had ended in sweeps in a losing
conference-final losing streak that reached 15 games — dating to
sweeps in 2009, 2019 and the 2023 first tilt with the Panthers —
before Monday's Game 4 win.
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