The Florida Panthers didn’t have time to prepare for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, so they just rode their momentum instead.
The Panthers received goals from five different players and Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves in a 5-2, series-opening victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C.
Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who were coming off a 6-1 road win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of their second-round series on Sunday.
Florida’s Aaron Ekblad, A.J. Greer, Sam Bennett and Eetu Luostarinen also scored, and Evan Rodrigues and Tomas Nosek each had two assists.
“There wasn’t much time off here from Game 7,” Greer said. “We came in with a mindset and a willingness to compete. We know our game, we know what to do and we got right to it.”
Florida has won five of its past six games overall.
“We’re such a deep team and every line has an identity, and we try to play to it every night,” Verhaeghe said. “Every night it seems like a different line is stepping up and scoring big goals and making plays, and that’s our mentality.”
Sebastian Aho and Jackson Blake scored, Seth Jarvis had two assists and Frederik Andersen made 15 saves for the Hurricanes, who came in 5-0 at home in the playoffs. Carolina finished its five-game series win over the Washington Capitals last Thursday.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Thursday in Raleigh.
“I didn’t hate our game tonight,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s going to be hard. It’s going to go back and forth. I think we had our opportunities early in the game, too. We got a couple good opportunities and didn’t capitalize and then it went a different direction.”
After killing an early power play, the Panthers capitalized on their first man advantage when Verhaeghe lifted a backhand over Andersen’s right shoulder for a 1-0 lead at 8:30 of the first period.
Florida extended its lead to 2-0 at 12:29 of the first after Carolina forward Jordan Staal lost possession of the puck in his own end. Rodrigues recovered and fed Ekblad, who fired in a wrist shot from the left circle.
Carolina scored with 16 seconds left in the first period to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk missed on his one-handed clearing attempt, allowing Jarvis to take possession and feed Aho cutting to the net. The pass was slightly behind Aho, but he used his skate to redirect the puck between Bobrovsky’s pads.
“They got some really good high-end scorers, so when you get your opportunities, it may not be many … you’ve got to find a way to put it by them,” Brind’Amour said.
The Panthers re-established the two-goal cushion at 3:33 of the second period. Greer was left alone coming down the left wing on a three-on-three rush, and he scored off a backhand feed from Niko Mikkola to make it 3-1.
Greer has scored in two straight games after earlier being a healthy scratch in the Panthers’ first three playoff games.
“There’s an identity on that fourth line,” Greer said. “Whether you’re in or you’re or not, you know how to play and you know that you’re going to get a call and you have to be ready. It was a big moment in my career to get that first playoff game under my belt, and I just want to come in and help the team as much as possible.”
Bennett hit the net with a wrist shot through traffic on a power play to extend the lead to 4-1 at 6:08 of the third.
Luostarinen made it 5-1 with a one-timer off a backhand feed from below the goal line by Nosek at 14:55.
Carolina answered with a power-play goal by Blake to cut it to 5-2 at 16:19.
–Field Level Media
