Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers Will Once Again Meet In Eastern Conference Final

The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers will meet in the Eastern Conference yet again, setting up a rematch of the 2023 ECF.

The Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games to advance and meet the Hurricanes, who had defeated the Washington Capitals in five games.

The last and only time these two teams met in the postseason was the 2023 Eastern Conference Final where the Cats defeated the Canes in a 4-0 sweep.

Despite the sweep, every game was a one-goal contest with the first game going to quadruple overtime, the second one going to overtime as well and the next two being one goal regulation losses.

The margins in that series were razor thin, and the Canes were without Andrei Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty in that series, but I’d still expect nothing less between these two teams this time around.

Here’s the ECF schedule:

Game 1: Tuesday, May 20 (8 p.m.) @ Lenovo Center
Game 2: Thursday, May 22 (8 p.m.) @ Lenovo Center
Game 3: Saturday, May 24 (8 p.m.) @ Amerant Bank Arena
Game 4: Monday, May 26 (8 p.m.) @ Amerant Bank Arena
Game 5: Wednesday, May 28 (8 p.m.) @ Lenovo Center
Game 6: Friday, May 30 (8 p.m.) @ Amerant Bank Arena
Game 7: Sunday, June 1 (8 p.m.) @ Lenovo Center  

In the regular season, the Hurricanes went 1-2-0 against the Panthers.

The Canes didn’t have any player with more than a single goal (six skaters) or two points (four skaters) so it doesn’t look like there’s any secret weapon on Carolina’s roster.

Spencer Martin started two of those games (both losses), posting a 0.825 save percentage. Pyotr Kochetkov played the other, posting a 0.962 save percentage win.

Frederik Andersen did not play the Panthers this season.

On the other hand, Anton Lundell led Florida with two goals and four points (Sam Reinhart also had two goals) in the regular season series.

Sergei Bobrovsky went 1-1-0 against Carolina this year, posting a 0.929 save percentage.

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