SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers are right where they want to be to close out a series.
On the road.
For the second time in their last three home games, the Panthers were shut out, the latest a 3-0 blanking in Game 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes, a game the Amerant Bank Arena crowd was anticipating would end in Florida heading to its third straight Stanley Cup final.
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But if any team has proven its dominance on the road this postseason, it’s the Panthers.
Florida’s 7-2 road record tells only part of the story. In its last four games away from South Florida — two in Toronto, two at Carolina — the Panthers have outscored the home team, 22-4.
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“This is not even a blip on their radar,” was Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour’s take on a game in which Carolina’s first lead in the series came just past the midway point of Game 4, or 150 minutes into the series, on a Logan Stankoven goal that beat Sergei Bobrovsky, blocker side.
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The Hurricanes added two empty net goals in the final 2:11.
Panthers get second chance to close out Hurricanes in Game 5
Game 4: Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin (21) controls the puck as Florida Panthers center Jesper Boqvist (70) defends.
Which brings us to Game 5 and the Hurricanes’ second chance to stave off elimination. But first how we got to this series returning to Raleigh, N.C., with the Panthers now ahead 3-1.
This series was so one-sided through three games that biggest story entering Game 4 was whether Panthers forward Brad Marchand was enjoying a Dairy Queen Blizzard or a downing a spoon full of honey between the second and third periods of Game 3.
That mystery was solved when Marchand revealed he was sucking on some honey apparently for a little boost to finish off the game. While it worked with Marchand scoring the final goal of Florida’s 6-2 route, it did not carry into Game 4.
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Instead, Carolina finally looked like the team that finished off the No. 1 seed in the conference, Washington, in six games in the second round. Hurricanes goaltender Fredrik Andersen got back to looking like the best player in the playoffs, which he was midway through the playoffs.
Carolina forced the play and harassed the Panthers in both zones. Florida had difficulty early keeping the puck in the offensive zone and when it did it rarely got off a clean, high-end shot.
“We were not at our best,” Aleksander Barkov said.
Something said often by those Panthers who spoke to the media following the game.
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Florida was outshot 23-12 through the first 40 minutes and finished with 20 shots, equaling its second fewest of the playoffs.
During one Panthers power play that spanned the end of the second period and start of the third, the only shot on goal was by the Hurricanes.
Panthers miss injured Sam Reinhart
“Our power play right now is slightly disjointed,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “You know, when you lose Sam Reinhart (out since Game 2), it’s really a big piece to that. But we still put good players out there.”
All of which allowed Anderson, who was benched for Game 3 after Florida had outscored Carolina 10-2 in the first two games, to regain confidence.
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Panthers fans tried to rattle Andersen early with chants of “Freddie, Freddie.” But by the third period, those chants were replaced by “ref you suck, ref you suck.”
It’s easy to want to blame the officials for inexplicably calling Matthew Tkachuk for embellishment when Jordan Stall not only hooked Tkachuk along the boards but then fell on him, or overlooking Andersen sticking out his left leg, sending Panthers center Anton Lundell sprawling, but Florida knows better.
This game was a chance to dispatch a team that had not won a game in the Eastern Conference Finals in 19 years, including the last seven against the Panthers.
The last time Carolina won a game in this round, the winning goal was scores by its current coach, Brind’Amour.
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But just like the last time Florida had a chance to close out a series at home — Game 6 against Toronto that ended in its only other shutout loss in the playoffs — the Panthers now have a chance to close it out on the road.
While the stakes for Game 5 are nowhere as high as they were for Game 7 in Toronto, the Panthers certainly do not want to give Carolina more life. They have first-hand experience how a 3-0 lead can disappear until it’s suddenly 3-3 and you are playing in a do-or-die Game 7.
That happened in last year’s Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton before Florida finally secured that elusive fourth win and the championship.
Maurice does not want to take his chances on Carolina catching some of that mojo Edmonton found a year ago.
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“I am exceptionally happy with the learning opportunity,” Maurice said, looking at the silver lining to the loss. “We’re pretty good at learning our lessons.
“It’s a competitive sport, I’m past seething, I got rid of that (right after the game). At the end of the day, I have a job to do, get them to play a certain way, look a certain way, I don’t think I got that done.”
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Panthers cannot complete sweep against Carolina in Game 4 loss