The Florida Panthers have got to be feeling pretty good about themselves as they prepare for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final.
With the scene shifting from Raleigh to Sunrise, Florida holds a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes.
That’s because they defeated Carolina twice in their own barn earlier this week, winning twice at Lenovo Center by a combined score of 10-2.
It’s the second time this postseason that Florida has come home for Game 3 with a two-games-to-none lead.
Back in the opening round against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida won the first two games on the road, 6-2 and 2-0, respectively, en route to a five-game series win.
However, it’s worth noting that Florida’s only loss that series was Game 3 at home, after winning the first two.
In the second round against Toronto, Florida lost both games on the road to open the series before coming home and evening the series with a pair of wins at Amerant Bank Arena.
For Carolina, they need to find a way to play their best game on Saturday night.
The Panthers have made it extremely difficult for the Hurricanes to generate many high-end opportunities or control much of the puck, two things they haven’t had much difficulty with up until this point of the postseason.
One big question for Florida is the status of forward Sam Reinhart.
He left Game 2 early with a lower-body injury after taking a hit from Sebastian Aho while crossing Carolina’s blue line.
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said on Friday that he would have an update on Reinhart on Saturday, so we’ll see what he has to say.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Game 3 against Carolina:
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 22, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (16) celebrates scoring during the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes in game two of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images