The Carolina Hurricanes finally won a game in the Eastern Conference finals. Now they’ll try to make it two in a row and once again stave off elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs when they host the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series on Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C.
The Hurricanes hadn’t won a game in the conference final since June 1, 2006, having been swept in each of their past three appearances (by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, Boston Bruins in 2019 and Panthers in 2023).
They’d been outscored 16-4 in the first three games of this year’s series as Florida staked out a 3-0 lead. On Monday, they got back to their game in a 3-0 win to keep their season alive.
“There’s a lot of pride in our game from the season that we’ve had and the work ethic we put in all year,” defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “To put three games out there like we did (didn’t feel good). Then to come work (Monday) extremely hard, obviously, we all take pride in that. We just have to keep doing it together.”
Earlier in the series, Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour called out his most experienced talent by saying that it couldn’t just be the rookies in the lineup who were the team’s best players. He was looking for more out of the likes of Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov.
Aho delivered the insurance goal in Monday’s win, but it was again rookie Logan Stankoven who continued to shine. The 22-year-old, acquired from the Dallas Stars in the Mikko Rantanen trade, opened the scoring.
It was Stankoven’s fifth goal of the playoffs and second game-winning goal, making him the first rookie in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise history with multiple game-winning tallies in a postseason.
“(He was the best player) the other night, too. Clearly,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s been great. There’s another kid that’s just getting going in his career. There’s another level that he’s going to get to. We’re real fortunate to have these young kids in the organization.”
Carolina also returned to veteran Frederik Andersen in net after starting Pyotr Kochetkov in Game 3, and Andersen turned in a 20-save shutout.
The Panthers know they need to be better in their second attempt to clinch a third straight appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
“I think anytime you’re trying to close out or end a team’s season, they’re going to play desperate and we’re going to get their best,” Florida forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “I think for us it’s just kind of getting mentally prepared for their best and sometimes we haven’t done a great job of that. … We’ve got better and got to stick to what we do.”
Injured forwards Sam Reinhart and A.J. Greer and injured defenseman Niko Mikkola each skated at an optional practice on Tuesday. They’re all expected to be on the ice for the morning skate on Wednesday, with their status for Game 5 to be determined after.
Reinhart has been sidelined since sustaining a lower-body injury in Game 2. Mikkola and Greer were each injured in Game 3, both undisclosed ailments. Each is day to day.
“You never want to see anyone go down with an injury or miss a game,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “It’s nice to have them back on the ice and know they’re close.”
–Field Level Media
