No sweep: Panthers shut out in Game 4 as Hurricanes stay alive in Eastern Conference final
It will not be a sweep.
The Florida Panthers couldn’t lock up their third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final on Monday, falling 3-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final.
Florida still leads the best-of-7 series 3-1 and needs just one more win to get to the Cup Final for a chance to defend its title.
“We were not at our best today,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said.
Game 5 will be at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“We’ve been pretty good at learning our lessons,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said, “and we need them.”
The lesson on Monday: Don’t count out a team with its back against the wall.
After getting blown out in the first three games — 5-2 in Game 1, 5-0 in Game 2 and 6-2 in Game 3 — Carolina put together easily its best performance of the series.
The Hurricanes dominated possession, shot attempts and scoring chances all night while the Panthers seemed a tick late while in the offensive zone.
“We were a little hesitant,” Panthers center Sam Bennett said.
They finally broke through 10:45 into the second period when Logan Stankoven’s snap shot beat Sergei Bobrovsky high to give the Hurricanes their first lead of the series.
Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal sealed the game with a pair of empty-net goals with 2:11 and 1:45 left to play respectively.
If not for Bobrovsky, this would have been a much more lopsided game. Bobrovsky was stellar in net once again, as he has been basically since Game 4 of the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He stopped 25 of 26 shots he faced for his eighth consecutive game giving up no more than two goals.
The only problem? The Panthers, who were playing without three regulars (Sam Reinhart, A.J. Greer and Niko Mikkola) due to injury, could get nothing past Carolina goaltender Frederick Andersen, who returned to the starting role after being benched in the third period of Game 2 and not playing Game 3. Andersen stopped all 20 shots that came his way for his second shutout of the postseason.
His defense was solid in front of him, too, with Florida rarely getting a clean shot off and not getting many second-effort chances. The Panthers also went 0 for 4 on the power play, getting just four shots on goal off against Andersen while on the man advantage.
“That wasn’t our game,” Panthers center Sam Bennett said. “We sat back. That’s not the norm for us. I’m sure it’s a pretty easy fix to turn that around.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2025 at 10:43 PM.
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