Eastern Conference final live updates: Florida Panthers vs Carolina Hurricanes, Game 3
The Eastern Conference final has shifted to home ice for the Florida Panthers.
Will the domination over the Carolina Hurricanes remain?
Florida trounced Carolina in the first two games in their arena and is now two wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for a third consecutive season
Puck drop for Game 3 on Saturday from Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena is set for 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast on TNT and truTV while available via stream on Max.
Follow along throughout the game for live updates, news, analysis and commentary.
One win from the Final
A tight game through two periods turned into another blowout for the Panthers.
Final score: Florida 6, Carolina 2
The Panthers are now up 3-0 in the best-of-7 series and are one win from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for a third consecutive year.
Hurricanes on the power play
Carolina added a power play goal to cut their deficit to 6-2.
Two more goals
Aleksander Barkov scored again and Brad Marchand added a goal of his own to make it 6-1 Panthers.
Mikkola hurt
Niko Mikkola, who has two goals tonight, slammed into the end boards and left the ice in obvious pain. He went hard into the boards with his right shoulder.
And now it’s a blowout
Aleksander Barkov makes it 4-1.
That’s three goals in 5:26.
Mikkola for two
Niko Mikkola scores his second goal of the game.
3-1 Florida.
Boqvist for the lead
Jesper Boqvist gives the Panthers a 2-1 lead 1:29 into the third period.
For the second time this playoffs, Boqvist has stepped up admirably when needing to fill in on the top line.
Even after two periods
We finally have a competitive game in this Eastern Conference final.
It’s a 1-1 game after 40 minutes. Carolina has the 17-15 edge in shots on goal and total shot attempts are just about even (39-38 Carolina edge).
Florida has 1:09 left on a power play to begin the third period.
Tie game
The Hurricanes tied the game at 1-1 when Logan Stankoven scored on the power play with 5:09 left in the second period. Florida was a man down because defenseman Gustav Forsling was called for a delay of game after shooting the puck over the glass.
Sergei Bobrovsky had stopped the first 13 shots he faced to that point.
Panthers kill off the major penalty
Florida killed off the Luostarinen five-minute major.
The time on ice breakdown for Panthers forwards was as follows...
Brad Marchand — 2:03
Anton Lundell — 1:51
Tomas Nosek — 1:34
Evan Rodrigues — 1:30
Aleksander Barkov — 1:23
Jesper Boqvist — 1:20
Eetu Luostarinen ejected
Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen has been assessed a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding Carolina’s Jackson Blake with 3:01 left in the first period.
With Sam Reinhart not playing, Florida is without two of its top penalty-killing forwards not just for the five-minute major, but the whole game.
A quick story on the ejection can be found here.
Mikkola opens scoring
The Panthers finally cashed in 12:07 into regulation, with defenseman Niko Mikkola scoring his second goal of the postseason.
1-0 Florida.
Evan Rodrigues with the primary assist on Mikkola’s goal. Rodrigues now has six assists over the past four games since returning from injury and nine helpers total this postseason. ... He’s still looking for his first goal of the playoffs, though.
Bennett line creating chances early
It’s still 0-0 through 11 minutes, but the Panthers’ line of Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk has looked good early after a solid performance in Game 2. Bennett already has three scoring chances, and Verhaeghe has a high-danger chance that was stopped by Pyotr Kochetkov.
Carolina with early pressure
The Hurricanes have a 4-2 edge in shots on goal at the first TV timeout and have had some sustained pressure — which is honestly more than they could say for most of the first two games of the series.
Carolina short two defensemen
Both Jalen Chatfield and Scott Walker are scratches tonight for the Hurricanes, meaning Carolina will be dressing a pair of rookies Alexander Nikishin and Scott Marlow among their six defensemen for Game 3.
They are also going with Pyotr Kochetkov in net over Frederik Andersen after Andersen gave up nine goals through the first five periods of the series.
How the Panthers replace Sam Reinhart
The big news heading into Game 3 is that the Panthers will be without star winger Sam Reinhart, who sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of Game 2 after taking a low hit from Sebastian Aho.
Jesper Boqvist is drawing into the lineup and will take Reinhart’s spot on the top line with center Aleksander Barkov and left wing Evan Rodrigues.
Series schedule
▪ Game 1 — Panthers 5, Hurricanes 2: Florida struck early, played its defense-centric style the rest of the way and had a steady performance in net from Sergei Bobrovsky to take the series opener. Carter Verhaeghe, Aaron Ekblad, A.J. Greer, Sam Bennett and Eetu Luostarinen all scored for the Panthers, with Verhaeghe and Bennett scoring on the power play.
▪ Game 2 — Panthers 5, Hurricanes 0: Sergei Bobrovsky recorded his third shutout of the postseason, Florida’s second forward line of Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk carried the load offensively and the team held the Hurricanes to just 17 shots on goal.
▪ Game 3: Tonight
▪ Game 4: Monday, May 26, 8 p.m., TNT, truTV, Max, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena
▪ Game 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, May 28, 8 p.m., TNT, truTV, Max, Raleigh’s Lenovo Center
▪ Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, May 30, 8 p.m., TNT, truTV, Max, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena
▪ Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, June 1, 8 p.m., TNT, truTV, Max, Raleigh’s Lenovo Center
Pregame reading
Need to catch up ahead of Game 3? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past few days.
▪ Panthers wanted to put Hurricanes’ ‘backs against the wall.’ Mission accomplished
▪ ‘They trust each other’: How a Panthers team filled with stars plays without ego
▪ Tkachuk’s scoring drought is over, but his value to the Panthers goes beyond goals
▪ Panthers’ Bill Zito once again finalist for GM of the Year. Will he finally win?
▪ One year into fatherhood, Jonah Gadjovich ‘loving life’ and helping Panthers in playoffs
This story was originally published May 24, 2025 at 7:00 PM.
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