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The Florida Panthers advanced to their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final with a 5-3 victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night at the Lenovo Center.
It was also the second consecutive year the team did not touch the Prince of Wales Trophy, which is awarded to the Eastern Conference champion.
It worked for the Panthers last year, as they went on to defeat the Edmonton Oilers in seven games and won their first championship in franchise history.
While the Panthers ended up winning Game 5, it did not start out well for them. The Hurricanes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period as they capitalized on Panthers giveaways.
The Panthers responded with three second-period goals to take a 3-2 lead. Hurricanes’ forward Seth Jarvis tied the game 3-3 in the third period as they looked to extend their season, but they would not find the back of the net again.
After a sensational individual effort along the boards behind the Hurricanes’ net, Panthers center Aleksander Barkov found Carter Verhaeghe with a slick pass, and Verhaeghe buried the puck into the net and gave the Panthers a 4-3 lead.
“He took on one guy, then two guys and then gave the puck to me with a pretty open net,” Verhaeghe said of Barkov’s key assist. “So it was an unbelievable play by Barky at a critical time.”
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Sam Bennett clinched the win for the Panthers with an empty-net goal with 54 seconds remaining in the game.
This was the second time in three years the Panthers had defeated the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals, but the Panthers’ celebration after the win this time was much more subdued.
“I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment (making the Stanley Cup Final) 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.”
Panthers’ head coach Paul Maurice said his team overcoming the early two-goal deficit is what makes hockey great.
“That was all the elements that make our sport great,” 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.”
The Panthers will play the winner of the Oilers and Dallas Stars series. The Oilers hold a 3-1 lead over the Dallas Stars with Game 5 coming on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET.
If the Oilers end up defeating the Stars and advancing, they have a chance to get revenge on the Panthers for last season’s Stanley Cup Final defeat.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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