Hurricanes Keep Season Alive, Defeat Panthers in Game 4
SUNRISE, Fla. — Trailing 3-0 in the series entering Monday’s contest, the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Florida Panthers 3-0 to stave off elimination in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.
Florida still holds a 3-1 lead in the series after Monday’s loss. There has yet to be a sweep in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Frederick Andersen, who did not play in Game 3, had 20 saves in the shutout victory.
Facing a 3-0 series hole, Carolina came out with their strongest period of the series up to that point in the opening 20. They had the edge in shots (11-7), shot attempts (17-14), and high danger chances (5-2), per Natural Stat Trick. Even with the strong showing, the Hurricanes could not find the back of the net before intermission.
After three straight games of conceding first, the Hurricanes finally got on the board before the Panthers. Logan Stankoven scored his fifth goal of the postseason 10:45 into the second, putting Carolina up 1-0 for their first lead of the series.
Another dominant period by the Hurricanes saw them lead 23-12 in the shot department after 40 minutes, and 1-0 on the scoreboard headed into the second intermission.
““I think we tried to do a little extra today,” Panthers defenseman Uvis Balinskis said. “If we’re going back to our game it’s going to be alright.”
Mark Jankowski appeared to have doubled Carolina’s lead 6:31 into the third after he beat Bobrovsky off the rush to put the Canes up 2-0. Paul Maurice decided to use his coach’s challenge, saying that the play was offside.
It was a very quick review for the officials, who determined that the zone entry was offside. Following the successful challenge, the score remained 1-0 in favor of the road side.
Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal both scored empty netters to seal the victory for Carolina.
“It’s a competing sports so I’m past seething — I got rid of that before I came to see you (the media) tonight,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said postgame. “At the end of the day I have a job to do. Get them to play a certain way, look a certain way. I don’t think I got that done.”
The Panthers will try again to close out the series and advance to the Stanley Cup Final in Game 5 on Wednesday night in Raleigh.
Games like these remind us how emotionally charged and unpredictable sports can be. The atmosphere reminds me of the CFL and the Calgary Stampeders, which I recently read about on their fan experience and service page https://www.pissedconsumer.com/company/calgary-stampeders/customer-service.html . It shows how much the fans care about not only what happens on the field, but how they are treated off it.