For the second straight playoff series, Florida returns home after winning the first two games on the road
FLA Live Arena is going to be rocking on Monday night.
That’s when the Florida Panthers will host the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final.
It’s strange to think that the Panthers are this deep into the postseason and yet they have only played five games on home ice over the past five weeks.
Not that anyone is complaining.
The Cats have been beasts on the road, leading the NHL with an 8-1 record when away from South Florida.
Now they return to Sunrise with a chance to take a commanding 3-0 lead for the second consecutive playoff series.
“We're in good situation, we’re exactly where we want to be,” said Panthers Captain Sasha Barkov. “We're ready to get back home and play in front of our own fans.”
It’s been an incredibly tight series through the first two games.
Neither team has held more than a one-goal advantage despite the series having already played over 10 full periods, or 201 minutes and 38 seconds.
Carolina will certainly be motivated, as a loss Monday night would be as close to a kiss of death as you can get without being completely eliminated from the postseason.
As we remember from the Toronto series, only four times in NHL history has a team successfully won a seven-game series after falling behind 3-0.
Team history is also not on Carolina’s side.
The Hurricanes have currently lost ten straight conference final games. They were swept in both the 2009 and 2019 Eastern Conference Final, and now trail Florida 2-0.
LINEUP NOTES
The Panthers have been rolling for weeks and as such, the lineup, forward lines and defensive pairings have remained the same.
Only an injury to Ryan Lomberg caused a ripple in the lines.
Of course, that led to Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice putting Eetu Luostarinen on the third line with Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart, a group that has provided some solid offensive contributions while proving to be quite reliable in their own end.
Combine that with the continued improvement from Anthony Duclair on the top line, and Nick Cousins’ emergence on the second unit with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, which allowed Carter Verhaeghe to slide up to Sasha Barkov’s line, and that’s how Florida’s forward ranks have become much deeper and difficult to match up against during the postseason.
On the Carolina side, we’ll have to see if Canes Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour makes any changes with his troops.
Don’t be surprised if he goes back to goaltender Frederik Andersen after starting Antti Raanta in Game 2.
Andersen has been lights out for Carolina during the playoffs, holding a 5-1 record 1.65 goals against average and .936 save percentage in seven appearances.
LINEUP UPDATES
Florida continues rolling with the status quo. Lines, pairings and tendy all remain the same.
The Hurricanes will be going back to Andersen in goal.
Other than that, Carolina should look the same as they did in Game 2, both in their roster and the makeup of their lines and pairings.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Barkov on Florida potentially taking control of the series: “Every game starts from zero-zero so we don't we don't think about that, we just play the game. We come in and think about the first period, think about how we start the game, and that’s it. We don't think too much ahead.”
Tkachuk on South Florida embracing the Panthers: “I'm excited for it. It's gotten crazy, the buzz around our team and in the city, so expecting it to just continue to get better at the rink. I know during the Boston series it was awesome, the Toronto series was a little bit better than that, and probably expected better than that tonight.
Maurice on his players enjoying the moment: “How could you possibly work your entire life to get to a place that you didn't enjoy being? What the hell was the point of that?”