Florida can win 3rd-round opener for 4th straight time; Carolina has been swept in past 3 trips to this round
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RALEIGH, N.C. — History shows how much winning Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final matters for the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers.
The Panthers have won the opening game in each of their three previous trips to the conference final (1996, 2023, 2024). They went on to win the series each time, including sweeping the Hurricanes in 2023.
The Hurricanes are in their third conference final in seven seasons under coach Rod Brind’Amour. They were swept in each of their previous two trips (2019, 2023) and are 0-12 in the conference final in their past three appearances in this round (2009, 2019, 2023).
The latest opening act in the Eastern Conference Final takes place at Lenovo Center on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).
Teams that win Game 1 of a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series go on to win the series 68.1 percent of the time (534-250). The percentage increases to 74.9 percent (368-123) when the home team wins Game 1, and decreases to 56.7 percent (166-127) when the road team wins Game 1.
“Those past experiences, I think those will only help us in this case because we’ve had some experience with this group,” Carolina center Sebastian Aho said. “Obviously, we have some new additions that have been unbelievable for us, but definitely experience helps with what we’ve been through with this group.”
The Hurricanes are hoping some home cooking does the trick for them to end that 12-game losing streak in the Eastern Conference Final. They are 5-0 at home this postseason after tying the Los Angeles Kings for the NHL lead with 31 home wins during the regular season (31-9-1).
Carolina has outscored its opponents (New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals) 21-8 in its five home games this postseason, including 9-2 in Games 3 and 4 against the Capitals in the Eastern Conference Second Round.
Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen is 4-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average, .957 save percentage and one shutout in his four home playoff games.
“I just think that we just get juiced up in this barn,” Carolina forward Jordan Martinook said. “It starts by driving into the parking lot. The game is at 8 o’clock so you come here at 5:30 and the parking lot is completely full. There’s people out there hooting and hollering. They’re yelling at you as you’re driving in. It sets your mood and your energy from 6 o’clock on and you just kind of ride that high.
“Then, obviously, they get super loud in here and it’s human nature, it just gives you energy. It’s crazy. I don’t know how to really describe it. It helps a lot.”
Florida, though, is 5-2 on the road during the playoffs and coming off a dominating 6-1 win in Game 7 of the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday.
The Panthers lost Games 1 and 2 to the Maple Leafs in Toronto, but responded to win four of five, including Games 5 and 7 on the road. They have a plus-17 goal differential (33-16), a 36.8 percent power play and 86.4 percent penalty kill in their seven road games.
“We love playing at home in front of our fans, but I think it’s also a great challenge for us to play on the road,” Florida center Aleksander Barkov said. “We know the other team will have their moments and push because of the atmosphere and they’re home, and we kind of get energy from that.
“Tonight, again, great challenge, great building to play in, very loud and they’re a really good home team. It’s a great challenge for us.”
Panthers, Hurricanes set to clash in Game 1 of Eastern Conference Final tonight
Here’s a breakdown of Game 1:
Panthers: In their seven road games, Florida has been led offensively by forwards Eetu Luostarinen and Brad Marchand. Luostarinen’s 11 points (three goals, eight assists) on the road during the playoffs leads the NHL and Marchand is second with 10 points (two goals, eight assists). The Panthers lead the League with 4.71 goals per game on the road this postseason and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is 5-2 with a 2.31 GAA, .907 save percentage and one shutout on the road in these playoffs.
Hurricanes: They haven’t played since Thursday, when they eliminated the Capitals with a 3-1 win in Game 5 at Capital One Arena. Andrei Svechnikov scored the series-clinching goal with 1:59 remaining in the third period; it was the forward’s eighth of the postseason, second in the NHL behind Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen (nine). Andersen leads the playoffs with a 1.36 GAA, .937 save percentage and one shutout in nine starts, including a 1.19 GAA, .937 save percentage and one shutout in the second round.
Numbers to know: 93.3 and 89.5, the respective penalty kill percentages for Carolina and Florida this postseason; The Hurricanes rank first in the NHL and the Panthers are second. Finding offense on the power play will be challenging and hugely important to winning not only Game 1, but the series; Carolina’s power play converts at 28.1 percent, second behind Dallas (30.8 percent) of the four teams remaining. The Panthers are fourth among the four at 20.5 percent.
What to look for: Florida is healthy, but Carolina will be without defenseman Jalen Chatfield, who also missed Game 5 against Washington on Thursday because of an undisclosed injury. Chatfield skated Tuesday morning but will not play. It’s a loss for the Hurricanes, who will insert rookie Scott Morrow into his first NHL playoff game in place of Chatfield, who is averaging 20:24 of ice time per game in the playoffs, including 1:50 on the penalty kill. Morrow played 14 games in the regular season, but Carolina will be aware of the 22-year-old’s ice time and may have to cut down to a rotation of five defensemen at some point depending on the game situation.
“In general, our players are maybe built different than their players, but the philosophy is the same. We’ve played each other enough that there’s less time in this series than in the other series that we play. So the team that makes the adjustment to that fastest probably has the advantage early, but both teams are going to make that adjustment by the 10-minute mark of the first period, if not between the first and second period. You’re going to feel it. There’s no room. So you aren’t slowing the game down. The game is never going to get slowed down out there, you have to stay with it, at or above that level and you’re trying to drive it.” — Panthers coach Paul Maurice
“It’s probably going to be a play here or there, a player here or there that finds a way to do something a little special. I think who can stick to the game plan and not deviate. Both teams play very similar and have the same I think thought process in how they go about it. We understand that. They do it better than anybody. We also understand that. That’s the battle.” — Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour
FLA vs. CAR | EDM vs. DAL
FLA vs. TOR | CAR vs. WSH | DAL vs. WPG | EDM vs. VGK
OTT vs. TOR | FLA vs. TBL | MTL vs. WSH | NJD vs. CAR
STL vs. WPG | COL vs. DAL | MIN vs. VGK | EDM vs. LAK
Evan Rodrigues — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer — Tomas Nosek — Jonah Gadjovich
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt — Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Jesper Boqvist, Jaycob Megna, Uvis Balinskis, Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm
Injured: None
Andrei Svechnikov — Sebastian Aho — Seth Jarvis
Taylor Hall — Jack Roslovic — Logan Stankoven
Jordan Martinook — Jordan Staal — William Carrier
Eric Robinson — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Jackson Blake
Jaccob Slavin — Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov — Sean Walker
Shayne Gostisbehere — Scott Morrow
Frederik Andersen
Pyotr Kochetkov
Scratched: Tyson Jost, Riley Stillman, Juha Jaaska, Alexander Nikishin, Ty Smith, Spencer Martin
Injured: Jalen Chatfield (undisclosed), Mark Jankowski (undisclosed)
Status report
Tkachuk, Lundell, Reinhart and Bennett were not on the ice for the Panthers morning skate but all will play in Game 1, Maurice said. … Andersen was not on the ice for the Hurricanes morning skate but will start, Brind’Amour said. … Martinook will play; the forward did not practice Monday after leaving practice early Sunday.
