The game was tied 1-1 heading into the third period, but what followed was an overwhelming display by the Florida Panthers. They unleashed a five-goal surge, a feat unmatched in Florida playoff history, and now stand just one victory away from their third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
Niko Mikkola and Aleksander Barkov each scored twice, powering the Panthers to a commanding 6-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night, giving Florida a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. Jesper Boqvist, filling in for the injured Sam Reinhart, scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and Brad Marchand also contributed. Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves to secure the win.
“In the third period, I think we took over,” Barkov said — an understatement from the Panthers’ captain.
Carolina’s goals came from Logan Stankoven and Seth Jarvis. The Hurricanes have now lost 15 straight Eastern Conference finals games, having been swept by Pittsburgh in 2009, Boston in 2019, Florida in 2023, and now facing the prospect of another sweep.
Game 4 is scheduled for Monday in Sunrise.
“They’re a good team, for sure,” said Carolina’s Sebastian Aho. “But I feel like we’ve been giving them momentum or a goal at the wrong time — and obviously they’ve made us pay.”
Florida’s five goals in the third period set a new club record for any playoff period, derailing Carolina’s attempt to change momentum by switching goaltenders. The Hurricanes started Pyotr Kochetkov in net after Frederik Andersen had conceded nine goals on 36 shots in the first five periods of the series.
Kochetkov was solid through the first two periods, stopping 14 of 15 shots, but the third period was disastrous. What began as a tied game quickly turned into a rout.
“I don’t think the way the games have been played really reflects the score outcomes,” Marchand said. “They’ve been pretty tight. It just seems like we’ve gotten a couple of bounces and lucky breaks here and there that have given us a pretty good lead.”
Florida got an early break to make it 1-0 when Barkov’s pass across the goal crease deflected off Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov and past Kochetkov. This gave Florida an 11-2 total shot advantage in the series at that point.
Stankoven, who had earlier been denied by Bobrovsky, tied the game on a power play at 14:51 of the second period. Brent Burns took a shot from near the blue line that Bobrovsky stopped, but the rebound bounced off Bobrovsky’s leg and Stankoven redirected it home, marking the first tie in the series besides the initial 0-0 score.
But from there on, Florida dominated the third period and the series overall.
“We have to try to put our best foot forward,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I felt like we did tonight for two periods.”
