Panthers push Hurricanes to the brink with another blowout win in Game 3
It wasn’t an elimination game for the Carolina Hurricanes, a season-ender, but it almost felt that way Saturday.
The Hurricanes’ bid for their first win in the Eastern Conference final evaporated quickly in the third period of Game 3 as the Florida Panthers scored five times to race away to a 6-2 victory.
The loss left the Canes in an 0-3 hole in the best-of-seven series against the 2024 Stanley Cup champions, who are one victory away from playing for another one. The Hurricanes now must win four straight games to keep their season alive, which gave Game 3 a distinct must-win feel for Carolina.
By game’s end, it was hard to imagine the Canes had battled the Panthers to a 1-1 tie after 40 minutes as goalie Pyotr Kochetkov matched saves with the Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky in a tight game.
But the third period was a blitz of goals by the Panthers, with the Hurricanes making mistake after mistake and unable to stop it.
Jesper Boqvist scored. Then, Niko Mikkola and Aleksander Barkov, quickly. Then, Barkov scored again and soon Brad Marchand was knocking one in.
“We were right there and to turn pucks over, that’s not what we do,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Against that team, you can’t do that. That was demoralizing.”
Logan Stankoven and Seth Jarvis had power-play goals for the Canes, Jarvis scoring after the Panthers’ lead was 6-1. Stankoven’s goal in the second period gave the Canes a 1-1 tie and hope of pulling off a road win to get back into the series.
Barkov, the Panthers captain, finished with the two goals and an assist, Mikkola scored twice and Jesper Boqvist had a goal and two assists.
Boqvist’s goal early in the third period after a Taylor Hall turnover in the neutral zone pushed the Panthers ahead 2-1.
Boqvist carried the puck around defenseman Dmitry Orlov to beat Kochetkov. It was a big moment for Boqvist, in the Panthers lineup with Sam Reinhart injured and unable to play.
The Hurricanes had what might have been their best period of the series in tying the score 1-1 in the second.
After Stankoven was denied a goal off the rush by a sparkling Bobrovsky save, he gave the Canes a power-play goal. After defenseman Brent Burns put the puck on net, Stankoven was lurking around the crease and punched it in.
The Panthers, for the third straight game, had taken a 1-0 lead in the first, taking advantage of a break. Mikkola had a pass glance off the skate of Orlov and past Kochetkov.
Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen was called for a five-minute major and given a game misconduct in the first period. Luostarinen first hooked Jackson Blake along the end boards, then sent the rookie head-first into the boards.
The Panthers had gone into the game without Reinhart, ruled out with a lower-body injury, With Luostarinen booted, they played the rest of the game with 11 forwards while missing a player who had 13 points in 14 playoff games.
The Canes were unable to convert on the five-minute power play, which extended into the second period, but Stankoven later struck to make it a 1-1 game.
The Hurricanes had two rookie defensemen in the lineup when Jalen Chatfield and Sean Walker both were unable to go because of injuries. Walker, injured in Game 2, took the pregame warmup Saturday but did not play.
Into the Canes’ lineup went Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow. Nikishin, in his second playoff game, was paired with Orlov, allowing the two to communicate easily on the ice, and Nikishin also got in some big hits.
The Canes defense held up — until the third.
The third period was filled with shoves and skirmishes. Five roughing penalties were called and the Canes’ Andrei Svechnikov and the Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett were all given game misconduct penalties.
This story was originally published May 24, 2025 at 1:18 PM.
