What’s next for reeling Carolina Hurricanes? ‘We’ve got to find a way’
Sebastian Aho was sitting on a stationary bike soon after the game Thursday at Lenovo Center, pedaling, a score sheet in hand, at times glancing up and into a big mirror in front of him.
The Carolina Hurricanes had just taken a 5-0 beating that likely felt worse than the final score. It came to the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final. It came before another sellout Lenovo Center crowd that enthusiastically piled into the arena prepared to be loud and supportive and will their team to a win, only to leave disappointed.
Aho could not have liked anything that he saw on the stat sheet. The Canes managed just 17 shots in the game, of which 10 came in the third period. For the second straight game, they allowed two power-play goals. They allowed the Panthers to score on three of their first five shots in the game. Starting goaltender Frederik Andersen gave up four goals on 16 shots.
Andersen was the starter but did not finish. Backup Pyotr Kochetkov took over in the third period, although Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour dryly noted, “It wouldn’t have mattered who we had in net tonight.
And so the Hurricanes will go to Florida in a 2-0 hole, after losing both games at home, after being outscored 10-2. They fell behind 2-0 in the first period of a 5-2 loss Tuesday in Game 1, and then 3-0 in the first on Thursday.
“I didn’t know what I was watching in the first period,” Brind’Amour said, although he was quick to credit the Panthers for another 60-minute clinic in how to control a hockey game in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
So what now for the Hurricanes?
Maybe Aho looked in that mirror and made a vow to himself that things would change in the next game, Saturday in Sunrise, Florida. He’s that competitive and is that driven to win. He has the skill.
Aho scored Thursday early in the second period, only to have the goal disallowed after the Panthers used their coach’s challenge and Aho was ruled offside after a Panthers turnover. No one else got the puck past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky in the game as the man known simply as “Bob” had a mostly stress-free game.
“It’s tough to really describe what we need to do unless we play our best game or are even close to it,” Canes forward Taylor Hall said. “We can say ‘tip your cap to them,’ but we didn’t play up to our capabilities in those first two games.
“Obviously, the start of the games were what put us in holes. But they’re a very good team. They play hard, they play together. They do a lot of things well all over the ice. It’s going to be difficult for us but we can’t really evaluate much until we can say we played close to our best.”
In the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, in series wins over New Jersey and then the Washington Capitals, the Canes had winger Andrei Svechnikov playing at his best. He scored eight times in the first 10 games and was one of the league’s most dynamic offensive players, combining power and finish and being noticeable and effective.
But Thursday’s game, and especially in the first period, was one of Svechnikov’s worst. He had two turnovers that resulted in Panthers goals. He had a bad penalty that resulted in a power-play score.
To his credit, Svechnikov did speak to the media after the game.
“My mistakes, totally,” he said. “I can’t do anything right now, so I’ve got to move on and think positively.”
Which is all the Canes can do: attempt to stay positive and move on. What other choice do they have?
“Go shift by shift by shift and see what happens,” Svechnikov said. “We’ve got to find a way.”
Brind’Amour agreed, saying the Canes need to win a period and see what happens. Chasing the game against a team that won the Stanley Cup has proven to be futile and the Panthers will have the last change at home and the ability to arrange the matchups they want.
In the 2023 Eastern Conference Final, the Canes were beaten twice at home to start the series and then dropped two in Florida. Just like that, it was over for Carolina.
The Panthers won the first two games in overtime. The first took four overtimes. Each of Florida’s four wins came in one-goal games.
After the 5-2 loss in Game 1, Brind’Amour was hoping injured defenseman Jalen Chatfield could return Thursday. He made a lineup change, replacing center Jesperi Kotkaniemi with Mark Jankowski.
But Chatfield, after taking the pregame warmup, was a scratch again, leaving it to rookie Scott Morrow to play another game. By the second period, he was changing up his lines. Winger Seth Jarvis left the game in the third after absorbing a big hit from defenseman Niko Mikkola.
Brind’Amour again will be hopeful that Chatfield will be ready for Game 3. He will hope the same for Jarvis and defenseman Sean Walker, who did not play in the third period.
The Canes’ starting goalie? It could again be Andersen, but Brind’Amour might go for a series reset with Kochetkov in net.
“I think we’re all a little bit at a loss, but this is the playoffs and you’re playing against the best teams right now,” Hall said. “The good thing is we have another chance really soon. Different venue, get on the plane and hopefully that can just put us in a different mindset, a different frame of mind, because what we did obviously didn’t work.
“They’re exploiting our weaknesses, obviously. We’ve got to play our game. Listen, it’s two games. There’s a lot of hockey to be played.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2025 at 11:00 AM.
