The horn sounded on Wednesday night to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs.
“I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It’s all business and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.”
Photo: James Guillory-Imagn Images / USA Today
The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, with a 5-3 victory in the Eastern Conference Final, pushing ahead for good when Carter Verhaeghe broke a tie off a feed from Aleksander Barkov with 7 minutes, 39 seconds left.
Florida beat the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three seasons. The Panthers are to face the winner of the Western Conference Final between the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers.
Sam Bennett added an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left by skating down a loose puck straight out of the penalty box after Florida had held up against a critical late power play for the Hurricanes.
That capped a wild night that saw the Hurricanes jump to a 2-0 lead by capitalizing on giveaways, and Florida answer with three second-period goals, only to see Carolina’s Seth Jarvis beat Bobrovsky midway through the third to tie it at three.
“That was all the elements that make our sport great,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “They’re all over us, and we’re serving up pizzas and we don’t look like we should’ve made the playoffs, and then the next thing you know we look pretty good.”
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