The Carolina Hurricanes will be taking on the defending champion [https://thehockeynews.com/shortUrl/T5CLCPJ] Florida Panthers for a chance to go to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since winning it all in 2006. The Eastern Conference Final is also a rematch of the 2023 ECF, where Florida swept Carolina in four games [https://thehockeynews.com/shortUrl/6pvtqC1]. The Panthers, who are coming off of a Game 7 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, met with the media in Raleigh on Monday. Here's what they had to say about their next opponent. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SETH JONES On having been in a similar situation to former teammate Taylor Hall, who he'll now be facing: Me and Taylor, we were obviously pretty close there in Chicago and kind of in the same situation. We just wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to play on a contending team, to win a Cup. Just to have that feeling of playing important games. I know Taylor's been great here. He's a super skilled player, he's fast and does all the little things very well. I'm happy for him. On the kind of team Carolina is: They play a simple game. There's no secret plays or anything like that. They're a very straight forward hockey team. They have great sticks and really feels like a man-on-man all over the ice. They're in your face, their penalty kill is in your face. There's not a lot of space out there and kind of a similar style to how we play. So I think you're going to see two similar styles going at it. They're known for just trying to suffocate you with their forechecking, not turning pucks over in the neutral zone and just playing a brand of hockey that everyone understands how to play. It starts with the work ethic and I think that's what you're going to see out of them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AARON EKBLAD On Andrei Svechnikov: Physical, power forward in a sense. Awesome skill and can put the puck in the net as we saw over the last few rounds watching him play. Competitor. A good complement to some of the other skill guys on their team. Somebody that you have to watch out for, for sure. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALEKSANDER BARKOV On the challenge of facing Carolina: I remember every single game against them for the past many years have been really tough. It's really hard to play against these guys and they know it and we know it. It's going to be a really fun, hard series. Really looking forward to that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MATTHEW TKACHUK On how much he enjoys playing Carolina: I don't think really anybody enjoys playing Carolina. Like they're a tough team to play against and they make it hard on you every game. Yeah, there were good memories in this building a couple of years ago and in that whole series for us, but it's all back to zeroes now. It's a new year, new series. You think about it, the last... I personally thought Carolina was going to beat the Rangers last year, so when you look at it, it could have been three years in a row of us playing against each other in the Conference Finals. I think that just speaks to how not only talented our two teams are, but how we're built for the playoffs and they are as well. They're a great team and it's going to make for another great showdown. We've been two of the top teams in the East for... I mean, even before I got here, Carolina has been knocking at the door. I feel like they've been in and around this for almost like 10 years now. It feels like a long time. They've had a great run and it's no surprise that we're facing them. On learning more about Jaccob Slavin at the 4 Nations Face-Off: You seem to get it each game you play. You see something different, but I will say that I really got... you always hear about him too and playing out in the West, you only played him twice a year and then playing him in the playoffs you see it a little bit more, but at the 4 Nations, I really saw how unbelievable of a player he is. He and [Gustav Forsling] I feel are very, very similar players and probably the two best in the league at what they do. Getting to see it first hand with him at the 4 Nations was great. Defensively, his stick, blocking shots, the little plays he'd make, he got every shot through. Like the little stuff that people don't get credit for, you might look at the top point getters in the league for D getting all the credit, but he's right up there for the best in the world. Definitely the leader of not only that backend, but for that team. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAUL MAURICE On the culture Rod Brind'Amour has built: Roddy came in at the right time and put in a very cohesive structure to their game. I think that Carolina and Florida are the two teams in the East that play, and I'm not being disrespectful to any of the other teams, the most consistently to their identity on a regular basis. When you watch Carolina play or watch us play, you get a pretty good idea of what it's going to look like. He's done a marvelous job here setting a style of play and being able to get that out of his team every night. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Be sure to check out the Carolina Hurricanes 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs Hub [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/latest-news/carolina-hurricanes-2025-stanley-cup-playoffs-hub] for all postseason stories! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stay updated with the most interesting Carolina Hurricanes stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw/sections/CAQqEAgAKgcICjCvqtILMO7F6QMwmeDfCA?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen] to never miss a story.
