Panthers Take Game 1 Of Conference Finals

Raleigh, NC – The Florida Panthers packed their momentum in a bag and brought it to Raleigh, North Carolina, to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 5-2.

Two days removed from a dominant 6-1 Game 7 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Panthers were tasked with playing on the road against one of the hardest-hitting teams in the league in the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes, 5-0 at home this postseason coming into Tuesday’s game, had been waiting around for five days after beating the Washington Capitals in five games.

While the hits were as advertised — Dmitry Kulikov and Sam Reinhart were knocked off their skates in the opening minutes — the Panthers won the offensive battle, quickly.

Carter Verhaeghe flipped a backhander top shelf to open the scoring 8:30 into the first period.

CARTER VERHAEGHE HAS THE FIRST GOAL OF THE ECF 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QJYP3vOIfc

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 21, 2025

Four minutes later, Aaron Ekblad fired a wrister from the left faceoff dot to go up, 2-0. With three goals in just eight games, the 29-year-old defenseman has already notched a career-high in postseason goals. He is one point shy of his eight-point watermark set in 2022-23.

It wasn’t just the top dogs in the lineup getting it done on the attack, though. In keeping with the theme of depth this postseason, fourth-line forward A.J. Greer scored early in the second period on a sick feed from Niko Mikkola. The usually defensive-minded defenseman sent a backhand pass to Greer as both were crashing the net. It was Greer’s second goal this postseason and third point in his last four games.

“It was a wonderful inside play to Mikkola at the line, which I abhor,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said jokingly. “We’re going to do everything we can to never see that again.”

Sam Bennett and Eetu Luostarinen scored in the third to give the Panthers a 5-1 cushion. Jackson Blake scored a power-play goal in the waning minutes, closing the gap.

Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who had his share of big hits taken, stopped 31 of 33 shots.

Accidental or on purpose? pic.twitter.com/JeDaQM9SGQ

— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) May 21, 2025

As is tradition with the Panthers in playoff games, the Cats found themselves in some extracurriculars that the NHL may look further into during the off day. After Brad Marchand tried laying a hit on Shane Gostisbehere while he didn’t have the puck in the third period. Gostisbehere fired a shot at Marchand while still in the defensive zone. Marchand then went after the Hurricanes defenseman and initiated a fight. Marchand was assessed a four-minute double-minor for roughing, along with a 10-minute game misconduct.

Game 2 is at 8 pm on Thursday in Raleigh.