In a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Florida Panthers showed what the difference is between a team that won a Stanley Cup and one that has struggled to get over the hump of the conference finals.
The Canes got to their game out of the gate, but some perfectly placed shots from the Panthers gave them an early lead they didn’t relinquish. As the game went along and the Canes failed to cut the lead, they became frustrated and their game dissolved from there.
“It’s hard to win games in the playoffs when you’re chasing them,” defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said.
Carolina didn’t give up many shots to Florida —- only 20 all game —- but when given grade-A opportunities, the Panthers capitalized every time.
Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe started it 8:30 into the game when he roofed a backhand from in close on the power play. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad added on four minutes later with a snap shot that went off the far post and in from the left faceoff circle. In uncharacteristic fashion, center Jordan Staal turned the puck over in his own end leading directly to the Panthers’ second goal.
“[I] tried to make a tight turn and with my hands, sometimes you never know what’s going to happen,” Staal said. “It just bounced over my stick, [it] was tough ice.”
Despite outplaying the Panthers for the duration of the first, the Canes didn’t have anything to show for it until center Sebastian Aho redirected the puck in with his skate with 16 seconds left in the period. In a dominant period, all the Canes had to show for it was a one-goal deficit.
Instead of using the momentum from the end of the first to tie the game, the Hurricanes had to watch the reigning champs retake a two-goal lead. On an odd-man rush attempt, left wing A.J. Greer was able to score on a cross-slot pass to the back post.
A failed back check by right wing Jackson Blake forced fellow rookie, defenseman Scott Morrow, who made his playoff debut, to leave Greer to try and deny the pass, but failed to do so. The night only got worse for Morrow, who sent the puck out of play for a delay of game penalty that led directly to Florida’s fourth goal. He finished with a team-worst -3 in his debut.
“It’s always hard to win this time of year because there’s throwing someone in that hasn’t had that experience, or you don’t count on as much and put him in a tough spot,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
On an almost identical play to Ekblad’s goal in the first, Florida scored its fifth goal of the game. Gostisbehere, clearly frustrated from an altercation with Panthers center Brad Marchand, decided he would play the body instead of the puck, leading to an easy pass that center Eetu Luostarinen put into the back of the net.
After Gostisbehere felt Marchand took a run at him along the boards, Gostisbehere got the puck back and fired it straight into Marchand’s chest. Marchand took exception and started a fight that led to him getting a game misconduct.
“Just heated, I was pretty pissed off,” Gostisbehere said. “He tried to take a run at me, I shot the puck at him. Had a little tuffle.”
Carolina got one goal back at the end of the game when Blake scored a power-play goal. He and center Seth Jarvis went back-and-forth before Blake put it in, but a relatively meaningless goal in terms of the game.
Game 2 will be a must-win for this group. It can’t afford to go down 2-0 at home like it did in 2023 when the Panthers swept them out of the playoffs. Puck drop is on Thursday at 8 p.m.
