Game 1 between the Panthers and Hurricanes will be Thursday night from PNC Arena in Raleigh
It took a few days, but we finally have a schedule for the Eastern Conference Finals between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers.
Game 1 will take place on Thursday night from PNC Arena in Raleigh with an 8 p.m. puck drop. It will air nationally on TNT.
The full schedule can be seen below:
During the regular season, Florida and Carolina met three times.
The Panthers won the first matchup way back in early November, a 3-0 Spencer Knight shutout.
Carolina won the following two, including a 6-4 victory in Sunrise on the final day of the regular season that clinched the Metropolitan Division for the Canes and locked Florida into their first-round matchup with the Boston Bruins.
Interestingly enough, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice has often referenced their 4-0 loss to Carolina on Dec. 30, and a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers the following day on New Year's Eve, as the turning point to Florida's season.
It was those two games where, Maurice says, something clicked with the Panthers and they began to realize just how much work and effort would be required to succeed in his systems.
Florida was just 16-18-4 after those two losses.
While the Panthers would absolutely have some ups and downs during the final four months of the regular season, they also began to find their game.
The Cats would go 26-14-4 over their final 44 games. From two games under .500 to 12 games over.
Quite the turnaround.
Florida has kept it going during the playoffs, rolling with an 8-4 record through the first two rounds.
If they can win four more before the Hurricanes do, the Panthers will find themselves in the Stanley Cup Final.