The Florida Panthers on Tuesday methodically jumped on the Carolina Hurricanes, immediately ripped away home-ice advantage and played with an edge befitting their status as reigning Stanley Cup champions in their 5-2 win in Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals.
“I don’t know if it’s a statement,” said Carter Verhaeghe, who had a power-play goal midway through the first period to put Florida ahead and keep Carolina in chase mode for good. “They’re going to come back with their best. We’re just trying to go in and play our game every single time.”
To listen to Verhaeghe and coach Paul Maurice, it was not the result of a lights-out performance of relentless perfection. There were hiccups in transitioning from series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs, teams with different styles who rely on, as Maurice said, being “so dynamic up the middle of the ice” compared with a different rush style with a Carolina team who rely on an aggressive forecheck to pressure and control the puck in the offensive zone.
Photo: James Guillory / Imagn Images
“I think the best growth in our team comes off losses,” Maurice said. “I think that’s where we learn more. I didn’t love our game tonight, but I understood it. Significant style change, so the Game 1 is that first look at what your game looks like in a completely different opponent.”
The Panthers were coming off a 6-1 win on Sunday in Game 7 of the second-round series against the Maple Leafs. That set up a rematch of the 2023 East final swept by the Panthers by four one-point margins, including a four-overtime thriller in that Game 1 that ended on Matthew Tkachuk’s winner during the sixth-longest game in NHL history.
“We know what to do and we know the recipe and our identity,” said fourth-line forward A.J. Greer, who had a critical second-period goal to restore a two-goal margin.
Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 31 saves in his latest Carolina-befuddling effort, notably a glove stop on Jack Roslovic’s shot from the slot after losing his stick midway through the second period.
“They’re going to do the same thing we’re doing,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “You can tell they do very similar stuff and they try to grind you down too. They’re here for a reason, they know how to do it well.”
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