The Canes are one loss away from their 16th consecutive defeat in the Eastern Conference Final. Throw in the towel.
Rout city.
The Florida Panthers crushed the Carolina Hurricanes 6-2 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena to move one win away from their third straight Stanley Cup Final berth. On the other end of the ice, the Canes are one loss away from getting swept in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season and by the same team.
The Panthers flat-out embarrassed Carolina in the third period, scoring five goals in the first 10:37 of the frame.
Despite not having Sam Reinhart in the lineup after he suffering a lower-body injury in Game 2 after taking a hard hit from Sebastian Aho, the depth of the Panthers was on full display. Aleksander Barkov had two goals an an assist, Jesper Boqvist had a goal and two assists, and Niko Mikkola lit the lamp twice for Florida, who are the number three seed from the Atlantic Division. Evan Rodrigues and Matthew Tkachuk also posted two points, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves on the night.
Logan Stankoven had a goal and an assist for Carolina, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 22 saves in his first start of the series after head coach Rod Brind’Amour benched Frederik Andersen. The Canes are the second seed from the Metropolitan Division.
The Canes own the sad statistic of having lost 15 straight games in the Eastern Conference Final after being swept in their previous three appearances. Now they are one defeat away from making it four. Brind’Amour played for the club the last time they won a game in the ECF, which was in 2006, when they won the Stanley Cup.
First Period
Florida took a 1-0 lead at 12:07 of the opening frame when Mikkola backhanded a pass across from the slot and it deflected off Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov for the goal.
Later in the period, Florida forward Eetu Luostarinen was tossed from the game at 16:59 after he was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding 21-year old Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake. Upon looking at the replay, Blake lost an edge as they were close to the boards and turned his head to his left. This put Blake in an awkward position and with Luostarinen breathing down his neck before the impact, it made the hit look a lot worse than it should have. The Panthers ended up killing the power play, which extended into the second period.
Second Period
Stankonen tied the game with a power play goal at 14:51 of the second, when he punched in the rebound of Brent Burns’ point shot. This play followed a delay of game penalty handed to Gustav Forsling for shooting the puck over the glass. The game was tied 1-1 after 40 minutes of play.
Third Period
Beast mode activated.
Boqvist, who placed Reinhart in the lineup, gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 1:29 of the final period on a breakaway. He took a pass from Rodrigues and went off for the races before beating Kochetkov with a backhand shot from the slot.
Mikkola scored his second of the night to extend the lead nearly five minutes later. Sam Bennett fed him a pass on the rush, and he snapped a beautiful wrist shot by Kochetkov from the left circle.
The next goal came a lot quicker, 29 seconds to be exact, all thanks to a costly turnover from Orlov in his own zone. Tkachuk regained control of the puck and dished a pass to Barkov, who skated into the slot and beat Kochetkov with a shot over his blocker.
Under three minutes later, Barkov scored again to make it 5-1. He shot the puck toward the net from the left circle, and it redirected off the stick of Carolina d-man Shayne Gostisbehere for an own goal. But own goals still count.
Less than a minute later, it was Gostisbehere’s best friend, Brad Marchand, who made it a 6-1 game at 10:31, scoring off a cross-ice feed from Anton Lundell on a 2-on-1.
Carolina managed to score a goal during garbage time, but it made little impact. Seth Jarvis made it a 6-2 game on the power play at 11:01, scoring on a backhander from the low slot off a pass from Stankoven.
If you’re a Hurricanes fan, this series has been nothing but garbage time. The Panthers have outscored the Canes 16-4 in the series. While their meeting last year was a four-game sweep, every matchup was close in the end. The rematch has been far from that.
Upcoming
Florida hopes to close out the series at home in Game 4 on Monday, May 26th at 6:00 p.m. MT.