The Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs facing challenges that made it unclear how long either might stick around.
The former Southeast Division peers are still here, halfway to winning the Cup as they enter the Eastern Conference final in what could be a bruising series. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series starts Thursday at Carolina which is in its second conference final in five seasons. It is Florida鈥檚 .
The Panthers pushed their way into the postseason only to earn a date with Boston, which had just posted the greatest regular season in NHL history. The Hurricanes were facing injuries to key forwards that made a weakness exposed from past playoff stumbles even more acute.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing, but it鈥檚 pretty hard right now to think about accomplishments to this point,鈥� Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. 鈥淲e want to keep going. We want to keep playing and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e thinking about.鈥�
Florida鈥檚 run was unexpected, with the Panthers using a six-game win streak to ultimately claim the last wild-card playoff spot. Yet since falling behind 3-1 to a Boston team with league records of 65 wins and 135 points, Florida has won seven of eight games, including and jumping out to a 3-0 series lead in .
As for Carolina, the Hurricanes 鈥� who had the league鈥檚 second-best record 鈥� and then . That came after ended .
鈥淥bviously we鈥檝e had really good teams the past five years and to be honest, I think (for) everyone 鈥� it鈥檚 been a little disappointing getting bumped in the second round for a few years in a row there,鈥� Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce said.
鈥淚 remember some of the veteran guys on the 2019 team and (coach Rod Brind鈥橝mour) saying you don鈥檛 know when or if you鈥檒l ever even get back to the conference finals. So I kind of learned that hard way.鈥�
The Hurricanes are favored to win this series, according to , and currently hold a slight edge over Vegas, Dallas and obviously Florida to win the Stanley Cup as well. Carolina has gone 5-1 as a favorite so far in these playoffs, while the Panthers have been the betting underdog in every game so far 鈥� including Game 1 of this series.
CONNECTIONS
There are plenty of team ties, starting with three Staal brothers facing off: Florida鈥檚 Marc and Eric 鈥� a member of Carolina鈥檚 2006 Cup winner 鈥� along with Carolina captain Jordan.
, who was coach when the former Hartford Whalers franchise relocated to North Carolina in 1997. He coached Brind鈥橝mour here when the Hurricanes made the Stanley Cup Final in 2002 as a franchise still gaining traction in a nontraditional market, then got Carolina back to the 2009 East final during a second stint in Raleigh.
鈥淭he thing that I notice most when I get there is how big the trees are. Because when we first started there, they were just planting them,鈥� Maurice said of returning to Carolina. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not nearly as nostalgic as maybe you鈥檇 think. All three of my kids were born there, but I鈥檓 not driving by the old house.鈥�
NOT HOW YOU START
The Panthers had eight first-period goals in the first two rounds, while the Hurricanes had only six.
After that, it gets wild: Florida had 13 second-period goals and a league-best 15 goals in the third period. Carolina has 20 goals in second periods of these playoffs, then 11 in third periods.
INJURY REPORT
The Hurricanes could get a boost from a thumb injury that required surgery and has sidelined him since Game 2 of the first-round series against the New York Islanders. He has returned to practice.
Florida鈥檚 Ryan Lomberg (upper body) is a possibility for this series.
NEW WORLD
The conference final is a new world for many of the Panthers.
Marc Staal has played in 19 conference final games, Eric Staal has played in 11 and Brandon Montour has played in six. Most of the rest of the Panthers (not counting the injured Patric Hornqvist, who has appeared in eight) haven鈥檛 been this far in the postseason.
STAT WATCH
Carolina is averaging 3.64 goals in the playoffs, up from 3.20 in the regular season, behind that produced a dozen different goal scorers against New Jersey. That included Jesper Fast, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Martin Necas and scoring three goals each.
For Florida, Matthew Tkachuk (five goals, 11 assists) ranks fifth in the postseason in points while the Panthers are averaging 3.33 goals per game.
In net, the Panthers have leaned on Sergei Bobrovsky (7-2, 2.82 goals-against, .918 save percentage) while the Hurricanes have due to illnesses for both. Andersen (1.80 GAA, .931 save percentage) has won five times while starting the last six.
鈥擜aron Beard, The Associated Press
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