RALEIGH, N.C. — Sam Bennett scored one among his two targets in Florida’s three-goal first interval, Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves and the Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0 on Thursday evening to take a 2-0 lead within the Jap Convention closing.
Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk additionally scored in one other tone-setting opening 20 minutes for the reigning Stanley Cup champions, whereas Carter Verhaeghe had three assists.
Bennett scored a second time by skating in to scrub up an try on the proper put up within the closing minute of the second interval to make it 4-0, ending a protracted shift in Carolina’s finish extended by Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns being caught on the ice after breaking his stick. Aleksander Barkov added a aim halfway by means of the third as punctuation.
Bobrovsky had his third shutout of the playoffs this yr and the sixth of his profession, with Florida’s protection smothering a Hurricanes staff that sometimes peppers the online with photographs however discovered little daylight.
Florida had already ripped home-ice benefit away Tuesday evening with a 5-2 win, the opener in a rematch of the 2023 convention closing swept by the Panthers with 4 one-goal wins. Florida solely tightened its grip on the collection with this one and now heads again south to host Sport 3 on Saturday evening.
On the opposite bench, the Hurricanes discovered themselves on the receiving finish of a crushing loss by a jarringly lopsided margin. And it marked their 14th straight loss in a convention closing, going again to sweeps in 2009, 2019 and the ’23 tilt with Florida.
The Hurricanes managed simply three first-period photographs and simply seven by means of two intervals, prompting a sometimes rowdy residence crowd to vent its frustrations with two chants of “Shoot the puck! Shoot the puck!” Carolina had a quick enhance when Sebastian Aho scored on a turnover within the first minute of the second interval to chop the deficit to 3-1.
However Florida efficiently challenged that the play was offsides. It turned out Burns’ stick-check on Tkachuk close to the blue line compelled the puck again into the zone and proper to Aho within the slot for the end.
By the third interval, Carolina had pulled veteran Frederik Andersen from web and went with backup Pyotr Kochetkov for the ultimate interval.
It wasn’t all nice information for Florida. Veteran ahead Sam Reinhart was knocked from the sport within the first interval after taking successful from Aho within the left leg, inflicting Reinhart’s knee to bend awkwardly.
