The Athletic has live coverage of Panthers vs. Hurricanes Game 5 from the 2025 NHL Eastern Conference Final.

The Carolina Hurricanes are back home and hosting the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final. The Canes’ season nearly ended earlier in the week, but the underdogs left enough on the ice to bring the action back to Raleigh.

How to watch Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes
Venue: Lenovo Center — Raleigh, N.C.
Time: 8 p.m. ET, Wednesday
TV (U.S.): TNT, truTV
TV (CAN): Sportsnet, CBC, TVA Sports
Stream: Max
Watching in person? Get tickets on StubHub.
Panthers at Hurricanes Game 5

Panthers lead series 3-1

Series odds: Panthers -1100, Hurricanes +700

The pressure was mounting for Carolina, who entered Monday night’s game down 3-0 in the series against the reigning champions and on a 15-game losing streak in the Eastern Conference final. But with a 3-0 win, the Canes kept their season alive.

Alexander Nikishin intercepted the puck in the neutral zone to set up Logan Stankoven’s second-period goal, and the Canes were able to protect that lead all night. Two empty-netters helped seal the win late in the third.

Carolina controlled play through three periods, generating 2.57 expected goals to the Panthers’ 0.59 (for an 81 percent expected goal rate) at five-on-five. And the Canes’ penalty kill went to work, to keep Florida 0-for-4 on the night.

The Panthers were short-handed without Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and AJ Greer, but so were the Hurricanes, who were missing two of their six mainstays on defense in Jalen Chatfield and Sean Walker. After starting Pyotr Kochetkov in Game 3, the Canes went back to Frederik Andersen in the starter’s crease; he responded by saving 1.28 goals above expected. Sergei Bobrovsky had a strong night too, but the lone goal he allowed from Stankoven was the difference.

To force a Game 6, the Canes will have to lean into the momentum from Game 4, and Andersen will need another strong performance.

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(Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)