Reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes meet again in Eastern final

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Florida Panthers were on their way to becoming the NHL’s standard, headed to the Stanley Cup Final two years ago before returning to win the Cup last year.

In many ways, the breakthrough moment came in the exact spot they find themselves now: in the Eastern final, preparing to open a series on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. The Panthers swept that series with four one-goal wins, a grinding advance that began with a four-overtime thriller that went down as the sixth-longest game in NHL history.

"That playoff experience started three years ago and this building was a part of that," said forward Matthew Tkachuk, who had the four-OT winner in Raleigh and followed with another OT winner two nights later followed memorably by leading a beeline for the tunnel to celebrate in the locker room. "We have that to reflect on and go back on, but this is a whole new beast this time around."

This opener comes 48 hours after Florida routed Toronto 6-1 in Sunday’s Game 7 to advance. The Panthers flew to Carolina on Monday, not interrupting their usual postgame routine of staying in the road city after a game to rest, hydrate and start the recovery process.

"If anything, we know there's a tremendous amount of work left that certainly doesn't get easier against a team like Carolina," Florida forward Sam Reinhart said.

"We've seen them year-in, year-out and we've had a series against them that was as tight as any, checking and the style of play. We'll get back, ready, recover and get ready to go on Tuesday."

The Hurricanes have been off since c losing out the conference’s top-seeded Washington Capitals in just five games Thursday. That pushed them to the Eastern final for the second time in three seasons and third time in the current seven-year run of postseason appearances since Rod Brind’Amour’s arrival as coach.

Yet this has been the Hurricanes’ roadblock. Carolina hasn’t won a conference final game since Brind’Amour captained the franchise’s lone Cup winner in 2006, being swept in 2009, 2019 and then two years ago - a run of 12 straight losses, eight coming with the current core of roster mainstays.

"Two years ago, it didn’t feel good obviously at the time," Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. "Whenever you have tough losses when you feel good about where you’re headed, they always stick out in your mind."

Carolina’s Frederik Andersen has been elite in net. He leads all goalies with multiple postseason starts in goals-against average (1.36) and save percentage (.937). Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, meanwhile, befuddled Carolina in the 2023 series and enters with a 2.31 GAA and .901 save percentage.

This is a matchup of the postseason’s two best penalty kills.

The Hurricanes are No. 1 by going 28 of 30 (.933) through two rounds, allowing just 33 shots on goal while tallying a short-handed score. The Panthers are No. 2 at 34 of 38 (.895).

That could mean a rough fight for the power plays in this series. Carolina is 9 of 32 (28.1%) for fourth in the postseason, while Florida is 10th at 8 of 39 (20.5%).

Florida is in the NHL's final four for the third consecutive season, matching the longest run by any franchise over the past 20 postseasons.

Dallas has also made the conference finals for a third straight year and will meet Edmonton in a rematch of 2024's West title series. Tampa Bay went this far in three straight postseason runs from 2020-22, Chicago did it from 2013-15, Los Angeles did it from 2012-14 and Detroit did it from 2007-09.

Combine the two rosters, and there are 33 players in this series - 17 for Florida, 16 for Carolina - who have been on the ice for at least one game in the conference finals round before.

There are five players in the series with at least nine career points in this round of the playoffs, and they all play for Florida. Brad Marchand, Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk all have 10, while Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett have nine apiece.

The Hurricanes didn’t have physical forward Andrei Svechnikov for the 2023 meeting because of a season-ending knee injury. The 25-year-old No. 2 overall draft pick in 2018 is thriving with his best postseason so far.

The 6-foot-3, 199-pound Svechnikov is second to Dallas’ Mikko Rantanen with eight playoff goals, including the winner in last week’s clincher against Washington. He’s also avoided a past tendency for taking inopportune penalties; he’s been to the box once through two rounds.

"The effort’s always been there," Brind’Amour said. "What you’re seeing out of him through these two rounds anyway is he’s impactful even when he’s not on the scoresheet. You just kind of notice him."