Splitting the first two games of a playoff series hasn’t really been a thing for the Florida Panthers so far this postseason.
Florida has started each of their three playoff series’ on the road.
The Cats won Game 1 and 2 of their opening round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and then lost both of the first two games against the Toronto Maple Leafs in round two.
Now here we are in the conference finals and Florida is hoping to see that trend continue after skating to an impressive 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night in Raleigh.
It will be interesting to see how both teams respond after a very entertaining, and at times contentious series opener.
The highlights, or lowlights depending on your perspective, started with a hit by Andrei Svechnikov to the head of Sergei Bobrovsky.
There was no penalty nor supplemental discipline for the hit, but Panthers players were visibly upset after seeing what happened.
Later in the game, Shayne Gostisbehere appeared to intentionally shoot the puck at Brad Marchand after the latter tried to connect on a big hit along the boards.
The shot by Gostisbehere prompted a fight between the two, but it was Marchand who ended up with 14 penalty minutes to Gostisbehere’s two.
Ultimately, the Panthers got the best of Carolina where it hurt the most: on the scoreboard.
With a win already in Florida’s back pocket, the pressure is all on the Hurricanes to salvage a victory in Game 2 or risk falling into an 0-2 with the series shifting to Sunrise.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Game 2 in Raleigh:
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov
Scratches: Mackie Samoskevich, Uvis Balinskis, Jesper Boqvist, Nico Sturm, Jaycob Megna
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Photo caption: May 20, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Florida Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe (23) celebrates scoring against the Carolina Hurricanes during the during the first period in game one of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images