Panthers use right 'recipe' again, crush Canes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, no team had scored more than four goals against the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2025 postseason. No team had scored more than once against their league-best penalty kill. Most importantly, no team had beaten them at home in front of their raucous "Caniacs."

That is, until the Florida Panthers came to town Tuesday night. Florida humbled Carolina 5-2 to take a 1-0 series lead -- 48 hours after eliminating the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Game 7 on the road.

"There's a lot of emotion in a Game 7. To be ready to compete as hard as you can, knowing that [Carolina] had a few days rest and they're playing in front of their fans? It was a huge win. Huge win and really happy," said Panthers forward A.J. Greer, who scored the Panthers' third goal.

After a physical opening to the game that saw the teams trade 11 hits before a second shot on goal was registered, Carter Verhaeghe broke through on the power play for the 1-0 lead for Florida.

"We wanted to be ready for this game. We know how hard they play here in this building especially, so we wanted to be ready for this game and I think obviously we got rewarded there early," Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said.

Carolina's Sebastian Aho was in the penalty box for a retaliatory penalty against the Panthers' Anton Lundell, who had cross-checked him. The Hurricanes' penalty kill had stopped 14 of 15 power plays at home and 28 of 30 overall in the playoffs until that Florida goal.

Verhaeghe said the Panthers wanted to start this series strong after dropping the first two games to Toronto in the second round.

"It's a tough building to play in. This gives us a lot of confidence that we can get a win here. We had a tough start to the last series going down 0-2. That's one thing we wanted to do this series -- at least win the first one," he said.

Florida's second goal was indicative of the kind of night it was going to be for Carolina. Forward Logan Stankoven missed a point-blank chance on Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. At the other end, a great Panthers forecheck led by Evan Rodrigues forced a rare turnover from Carolina center Jordan Staal, setting up a chance for Aaron Ekblad to make it 2-0.

All night, the Panthers responded any time it seemed the Hurricanes could grab momentum. Aho scored late in the first period on a goal that was reviewed for a possible kicking motion -- Florida coach Paul Maurice said there wasn't enough on the ice to disallow the goal nor enough on the replay to have the refs overturn it -- but the Panthers answered with Greer's goal at 3:33 of the second period.

"We know what to do. We know the recipe. When everyone's going and there's a commitment to play a solid Panthers hockey game ... it's not easy, but it makes it hard for them," Greer said.

From there, the Panthers added goals from Sam Bennett on a power play and Eetu Luostarinen at even strength in the third. "They got the two power-play goals. That was the difference in the game. We've got to kill those," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said.

Jackson Blake's late power-play goal was all Carolina could muster against Bobrovsky and the Panthers.

Maurice said his team handled the significant shift in style well from Toronto to Carolina in Game 1.

"I didn't love our game tonight, but I understood it. Game 1 is that first look at what your game looks like against a completely different opponent. So we will have to continue to build that game and get better," he said. "I thought they had good chances that they didn't finish on. Sergei [Bobrovsky] was very strong."

Bobrovsky made 31 saves, outplaying counterpart Frederik Andersen (five goals on 20 shots), who had been one of the playoffs' top goaltenders entering the series. The Hurricanes crashed his net looking for chances, including one sequence in which Andrei Svechnikov's hip collided with Bobrovsky's head.

"It's OK. It's the playoffs. They try to get under the skin. I just focus on my things and try not to think about that," Bobrovsky said.

As expected, emotions did run high at times and forward Brad Marchand was in the thick of it. He earned four minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct after a sequence in which Carolina defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere shot the puck at Marchand following a hit he felt crossed the line. The two then had something close to a fight, although Gostisbehere's gloves didn't come off.

"Just heated. I was pretty pissed off. He tried to take a run at me. I shot the puck at him. We had a little [tussle]," Gostisbehere said.

Game 2 is Thursday night in Raleigh.