The Carolina Hurricanes have been here before. Each of their past two trips to the Eastern Conference finals has seen them fall behind 2-0 in the series and ended with the Hurricanes coming up on the wrong side of a sweep.
This time, they’ll be looking to change the story as the best-of-seven series shifts to Sunrise, Fla., for Game 3 on Saturday.
Carolina looked nothing like the dominant shot-volume team it’s known to be in a 5-0 loss to the Panthers in Game 2. The team was stuck on just seven shots on goal and 28 total attempts after two periods.
It led fans to started chanting “Shoot the puck” late in the second period.
“That’s just not our game,” forward Taylor Hall said. “That’s just not how we play.”
The Hurricanes led the Eastern Conference and were second in the NHL in the regular season with an average of 31.7 shots on goal per game. They ranked first with 4,608 shot attempts for, 360 more than second place.
They’ve struggled to convert on chances they have had in the series. In the opener, a 5-2 loss in which they outshot Florida 33-20, they didn’t score their second goal until less than four minutes remained in the contest.
“It’s not easy. We have a long road ahead of us, but there’s no quit in this team,” captain Jordan Staal. “There’s been plenty of games (all season) where we’ve been out of it but clawed ourselves back. A series is no different. It just takes one.”
The Panthers return home with a chance to push the Hurricanes to the brink for the second time since 2023. Florida was also the lower seed two years ago when it grabbed a 2-0 series lead in the conference final against Carolina before completing the sweep.
That was the first season the Panthers had Matthew Tkachuk on their roster, and the forward has been a key addition to the group, which fell in the Stanley Cup Final that spring before winning the cup last year.
“I think you try to learn something from every series,” center Anton Lundell said. “Going back a couple of years ago, after a tough (Stanley Cup) final we had that hunger for last season. And just from last season, I feel like we learned a lot as a group. … It’s a different journey this year, but at the same time, we guys who were last year, we have that in mind, and we know what it takes.”
Tkachuk is known for his offensive skill, physicality, ability to agitate the opposition and gift for coming up clutch in big games. He’s notched 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 14 games, one of six Florida players with at least 12 so far.
“He always plays well,” Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said. “He’s one-of-a-kind player and we’re lucky to have him on our side. He does it all for us. He’s huge for us.”
While they’re glad to have Tkachuk, the Panthers could be without Sam Reinhart on Saturday. The winger sustained a lower-body injury in the first of period of Game 2 after a hit from Sebastian Aho and did not return.
Florida coach Paul Maurice said Friday he would have an update on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
