Florida shocked Carolina with a 5-2 win to open the NHL Eastern Conference Finals Tuesday night. They scored first, becoming the only team to put up five goals against the Hurricanes in the 2025 playoffs.
The away team started hot. Carter Verhaeghe scored first, then Aaron Ekblad made it two. A.J. Greer added another in the second, while Sam Bennett and Eetu Luostarinen put it away with third-period goals.
"We wanted to be ready for this game. We know how hard they play here, so we wanted to be ready. I think obviously we got rewarded there early," said Aleksander Barkov to ESPN.
Coming off their Game 7 win over Toronto just two days earlier, Florida kept their momentum going. Sergei Bobrovsky came up big with 31 saves, including a stretch where he held strong while his team went 15 minutes without a shot on goal.
Sebastian Aho got the home crowd going, scoring late in the first from Seth Jarvis' pass. But Carolina's offense went quiet after that push. Their perfect 5-0 home playoff record came to an end.
"They got two power-play goals. That was difference. We've got kill those," said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour to ESPN.
Florida's dominance over Carolina in playoff matchups continues, adding to last year's sweep in this same round. Those games were close though - each decided by one goal, with the opener going through four overtimes.
"It's tough building to play. This gives us confidence. We had tough start last series going down 0-2. That's one thing we wanted do this series—at least win first one," said Verhaeghe to ESPN.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice stayed measured in victory: "I didn't love our game tonight, but I understood it. Game One is that first look at what your game looks like against completely different opponent. So we'll have continue build that game get better."
