The Carolina Hurricanes will defeat the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday evening.

According to NHL 25, the Canes will dominate the game and score a 3-1 win.

Jackson Blake scored twice for Carolina, and Seth Jarvis had two assists. Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Canes. Brad Marchand scored the lone goal for the Panthers.

Sergei Bobrovsky was outstanding even in defeat. He stopped 38 of 41 shots and Carolina’s Frederik Andersen stopped 22 of 23 shots.

First Period

Florida’s Jesper Boqvist was whistled for holding with 12:17 to go in the opening frame. This put Carolina on their first power play of the game. Bobrovsky made some excellent saves, but while they were still trying to kill off the first penalty, Matthew Tkachuk shot the puck over the glass and was boxed for delay of game.

Jesper Fast had a huge opportunity to put the Canes on the board in a battle in front of the net. Bobrovsky was out of position, and the right side of the net was wide open, but he fired the puck over the net. Not to worry, though. Svechnikov picked up the slack and fired a backhander by Bobrovsky to give Carolina the 1-0 lead on the power play.

At the end of 1, Carolina held a 20-10 advantage in shots on goal. However, Florida was also the more physical time, connecting with 18 hits to Carolina’s 3.

Second Period

Just over five minutes into the second, Marchand tied the game at one apiece when he tipped Nate Schmidt’s point shot in front of the net. It subsequently trickled off Andersen’s left skate and into the net.

However, the Canes would strike back relatively quickly when Jarvis fed Jackson Blake with a cross-ice pass and he snapped a shot that beat Bobrovsky blocker side to give the Canes a 2-1 advantage.

With 23 seconds remaining in the period, Blake scored his second goal of the game when he capitalized on a rebound off a Jarvis shot and batted the loose puck by Bobrovsky. Schmidt and Anton Lundell both had opportunities to prevent the goal from happening, but ended up tripping over one another.

Third Period

Blake nearly got a hat trick nearly two minutes into the final frame, but his shot from the right circle hit the post.

With 12:39 to go, Svechnikov teed up and ripped a slap shot, but Bobrovsky gloved it. About a minute later, Svechnikov once again coraled the puck and drove it down the ice, just for his wrist shot to also get gloved by Bobrovsky.

Florida pulled Bobrovsky in the final minute, but the only thing they accomplished was not allowing another goal.

Game 1 goes to Carolina in a dominant performance.

Takeaways

Florida was the more physical team, but it didn’t matter. Carolina used their speed advantage to create opportunities and they made the most of their chances. The Panthers simply didn’t do enough.

But hey, we’ll see how the real thing goes at 6:00 p.m. MT tonight!