The Florida Panthers are a confident group, and it was on full display as they erupted for a five-goal third period and pushed the Carolina Hurricanes to the brink of elimination with a 6-2 Game 3 victory in the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night.

Aleksander Barkov had two goals and an assist, Jesper Boqvist contributed a goal and two assists and Niko Mikkola scored twice for the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-0. Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves.

“We go into the game and know exactly what we need to do,” Barkov said. “Obviously we’re playing against a really good team and they’re going to have their moments as well, but we need to stay focused. I think the second period they had a really good push and ‘Bob’ helped us a lot. … In the third period, I think we took over. Jesper scored a big goal for us, and I think we took over there.

“Yeah, the confidence level is high and everyone’s having fun right now.”

Logan Stankoven had a goal and an assist and Seth Jarvis also scored for Carolina, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 22 saves.

“I think we were there, we were playing better (than Game 2, a 5-0 loss). And then just to turn pucks over, it’s not what we do,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “No one does that. I was just pretty surprised. You can’t do that, and you can’t do that any time. In a preseason game, that’s going to cost you, but against that team, you turn it over for an odd-man rush? Forget it. We know that. That was really, I think, demoralizing.”

Game 4 will be on Monday in Sunrise, Fla., when the Panthers will have a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for a third straight year.

“We got up (3-0 against) Toronto two years ago and wanted it so bad that we tried to win the game on every play,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I think we kind of learned from that. Then you saw last year (in the Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers), got beat 8-1. It’s the same idea.

“They have the desperation advantage, you have potentially the desire advantage — just the achievement idea that you get to move on — and both teams will fight that. That will be on display in the game.”

Boqvist put Florida ahead 2-1 at 1:29 of the third period. Filling in for Sam Reinhart, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, he cut around defenseman Dmitry Orlov into the slot and slipped a backhand five-hole on Kochetkov.

“He’s a smart player and he can play with good players,” said forward Evan Rodrigues, who had two assists. “Not playing in a week, he did a great job of staying ready, staying in shape, and steps right in and makes an immediate impact. Really good game from him. Fun playing with him.”

Mikkola’s second of the night made it 3-1 at 6:26. He took a pass from Sam Bennett above the left circle and took it to the faceoff dot before firing a snap shot into the far top corner.

That spurred a flurry of goals for the Panthers — four in a span of 4:11.

Barkov scored 29 seconds later to push it to 4-1. Matthew Tkachuk (two assists) intercepted a clearing attempt along the right wall and dished it over to Barkov, who snapped it over Kochetkov’s right pad from the hash marks.

Barkov then extended it to 5-1 at 9:31, collecting a loose puck after Rodrigues knocked down another clearing pass and sending a wrist shot from the right circle over Kochetkov’s glove.

Brad Marchand connected off the rush just over a minute later, scoring from the left circle over Kochetkov’s blocker to make it 6-1 at 10:37.

“Just off the rails and bad plays, and they made us pay,” Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho said. “And then it’s game over.”

Jarvis narrowed it to 6-2 on the power play at 11:01, putting a backhand past Bobrovsky from in front.

Mikkola gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 12:07 of the first when his centering pass hit Orlov’s skate and redirected into an open side of the net.

Stankoven tied it on the power play at 14:51 of the second when he lifted a rebound over Bobrovsky’s left pad.

“I thought the game was right there for us through two periods,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “And a quick turnover, and they made us pay. And then they got rolling. It’s a tough team to stop when they get the juices flowing. And we’re playing turnover city there, and they’re going to make you pay.”

Mikkola left the game midway through the third period after crashing into the end boards and did not return. Maurice said the Panthers “think he’s going to be OK.”

–Field Level Media