Panthers Roll Over Hurricanes, Take 2-0 Lead in Eastern Conference Final

Florida didn’t pull any punches in the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final.

Thanks to a three-goal first period, the Panthers stunned the Carolina Hurricanes again in Raleigh with a 5-0 win in Game 2 on Thursday night, taking a 2-0 series lead back home as the series transitions to Sunrise.

Sergei Bobrovsky didn’t see much action but was still strong in his limited action, stopping all 17 shots he faced in the shutout victory as he lead Florida to their third straight win of the playoffs.

After a strong showing in their 5-2 Game 1 win, the Panthers wasted little time to build off their dominant performance in Game 2.

Defenseman Gustav Forsling scored his first goal of the playoffs 1:17 into the game to put the Panthers up 1-0. Forsling became the seventh Florida defenseman and 18th different player on the team to get a goal this postseason.

In a similar fashion to the series opener, the Panthers quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead 11:41 into the opening frame after Matthew Tkachuk scored off a backdoor feed from Carter Verhaeghe for his first goal since Game 3 of the first round against Tampa.

Shortly after getting the primary assist on Tkachuk’s goal,Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett linked up to get another one past Frederik Andersen. On the power play, Verhaeghe ripped a shot through traffic and Bennett got a stick on it to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead with 4:10 remaining in the first period with his team-leading eighth goal of the postseason.

When the buzzer came to end the first period, the Hurricanes had just three shots on goal in 20 minutes of play. The Panthers had three goals in the same amount of time.

The Hurricanes thought they got on the board 51 seconds into first after Sebastian Aho beat Sergei Bobrovsky for his second goal of the series. Florida challenged the play for offsides and were successful after replay showed that Carolina’s Brent Burns made contact with the puck before it went back into the Panthers’ zone. The score remained 3-0 Florida.

Just before the two sides went into the room for the second intermission, Bennett buried his second goal of the night — and  ninth of the postseason — with 39 seconds to go in the middle frame, giving the Panthers a 4-0 lead.

With the busses already rolling to get the Panthers out of Lenovo Center, Aleksander Barkov added a fifth goal for the Panthers late in the third.

Entering the series, Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen had the best stats in the playoffs, posting a 1.36 GAA and giving up just three goals once all postseason. Through two games, the Panthers beat the Danish netminder nine times in five periods.

Andersen’s night would end early after giving up four goals on 16 shots. The 35-year-old was replaced by Pyotr Kochetkov to start the third period.

Kochetkov, 25, made his third appearance (1 start) of the 2025 playoffs after coming in for relief of Andersen. He allowed one goal on four shots.

Despite the win, the Panthers suffered a loss in their lineup. Star forward Sam Reinhart did not return to the game after Sebastian Aho hit him square on the leg in the first period. Reinhart has been one of Florida’s top contributors this postseason with 11 points in 14 games (4-7-11).

With a 2-0 lead and the series shifting to South Florida, the Panthers will try to go up 3-0 in the ECF against Carolina for the second time in the past three years. Game 3 will be Saturday, May 24 at 8 p.m. ET from Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, FL.