Welcome to the Eastern Conference Finals!
The Florida Panthers are visiting the Carolina Hurricanes for game one. Start time is 8 P.M. and it will be televised by TNT and their affiliated networks.
While the Hurricanes have made the playoffs for seven straight years, every year since Rod Brind’Amour took over, they have yet to win an Eastern Conference Final game in three tries.
Most recently, in 2023, the Panthers swept the Canes in four, one-goal games. (more on that here – https://www.canescountry.com/2025/5/19/24433472/things-aint-what-they-used-to-be-hurricanes-vs-panthers-series-preview
The Panthers topped the season series between the clubs, 2-1, but the Canes were blown out in back-to-back games in November. Spencer Martin and Yaniv Perets were in goal for Carolina.
Tonight, Frederik Andersen will be in net and he has the best stats of any other goalie in the postseason with a SV% .937 and GAA 1.36.
The Canes will be icing the following forward lines –
Svechnikov – Aho – Jarvis
Hall – Roslovic – Stankoven
Martinook – Staal – Carrier
Robinson – Kotkaniemi – Blake
The defense is in a bit of disarray with Jalen Chatfield questionable for tonight.
Alexander Nikishin filled in for Chatfield for the series clincher in Washington, but Scott Morrow was paired with Shayne Gostisbehere in yesterday’s practice and in this morning’s skate.
The defenseman says he will be ready if called upon.
I would expect Florida’s lines to be the same as in recent games.
Rodrigues – Barkov – Reinhart
Verhaeghe – Bennett – Tkachuk
Luostarinen – Lundell – Marchand
Greer – Nosek – Gadjovich
Forsling – Ekblad
Jones – Mikkola
Schmidt – Kulikov
Look for Sergei Bobrovsky in net, who has previously been a “Cane Killer.” He has looked more human this postseason though.
While the Panthers are slight favorites to win the series, the Hurricanes are slight favorites to win game one. We will see.