May 29 (UPI) — The Florida Panthers trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes, but were unfazed, scoring three times in the second period and twice in the third to overwhelm the Carolina Hurricanes and reach a third-consecutive Stanley Cup Final.
Forwards Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk, Anton Lundell, Evan Rodrigues and Carter Verhaeghe scored in the 5-3 Eastern Conference finals finale triumph Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C. Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves in Game 5 of the best-of-seven game series.
Panthers forward Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov logged two assists apiece.
“We’re comfortable in these situations,” Panthers forward Brad Marchand told reporters. “When you’ve been through it before and you’ve gone all the way, you see the different way that momentum swings can happen throughout a game and how you can take advantage of that.
“Even when they got that goal in the third, it didn’t faze us at all. We just kept pushing. It’s just the believe in the room that we can come back in any situation.”
The Panthers will meet the Edmonton Oilers or Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Final.
“We’ve got one more job to do,” Tkachuk said.
Veteran forward Sebastian Aho scored 4:39 into Game 5 to give the Hurricanes an initial lead. The home squad pushed their edge to two goals when forward Seth Jarvis assisted Aho for another score with 1:06 remaining in the opening frame.
Tkachuk started the Panthers’ rally during a power play 7:23 into the second period. Barkov put pressure on the Hurricanes, forcing a failed clearance to start the sequence.
Seth Jones went on to slide a pass to fellow Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad near the blue line. Ekblad then ripped a shot through the slot. Tkachuk managed to redirect the flight of the puck, poking his stick in the air and knocking it into the net past Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen.
Rodrigues beat Andersen again just 30 seconds later.
Jones started that play by skating away from the forecheck and hitting a long pass up the right boards to Tkachuk, who corralled the puck and sent a quick feed to Rodrigues. The Panthers forward skated over the blue line before hitting a pass to Bennett on his left. Bennett proceeded to skate through the left circle before lacing a pass through defenders, finding Rodriguez in front of the net. Rodrigues finished the play with a quick wrist shot past Andersen.
Lundell gave the Panthers their first lead with about four minutes later. Marchand set up that score after he got the puck from behind a face off won by Lundell. He then sent a pass in front of the net from the left side of the goal line. Lundell pushed his stick above the crease to redirect the puck past Andersen.
Jarvis leveled the score at 3-3 with a wrist shot 8:30 into the final frame, but Verhaeghe and Bennett then put the game away for the Panthers.
Barkov set up Verhaeghe’s go-ahead score with a sensational play from behind the Hurricanes net.
He received an initial pass on the right flank before skating with Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov behind the goal line. He then slammed on the brakes with his left skate, deked winger Eric Robinson and slid a pass toward the far post. Verhaeghe hovered into the area and blasted a one-timer behind Andersen.
Bennett found the net for the last goal of the night with an empty-netter score with 53.4 seconds remaining.
The Panthers will take on the Oilers or Stars in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final will be on June 4 or 7 in Edmonton or Dallas, depending on who wins the Western Conference finals. The Stars, who trail 1-3 in the series, will host the Oilers in Game 5 at 8 p.m. EDT Thursday in Dallas.
