After Game 4 loss, Panthers’ goal to close out conference final: ‘Go out there and take it’
The Florida Panthers’ mantra this postseason has been that they win a game or they learn from it. The losses become teaching moments, chances to pinpoint exactly what went wrong on a given night and figure out how to fix it quickly — crucial because of the playoff schedule’s swift turnarounds.
Monday brought the latest learning experience. The Panthers looked like a shell of themselves in their 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final, Florida’s first chance to wrap up the best-of-7 series and advance to a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final.
The result was a shock after the Panthers won the first three games against Carolina by convincing margins
“I am exceptionally happy with the learning opportunity,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I’m not screwing around with you. There are consistent things in games that we don’t love, and you cannot eradicate those. Give Carolina credit. ... I thought they were very consistent with their game plan.”
What exactly went wrong Monday?
“We were a little hesitant,” center Sam Bennett said. “The last three games we were aggressive, we had more pace to our game, more jump, and I think just a little sitting back.
“That’s not the norm for us.”
The numbers back up that assessment.
Florida failed to generate much that challenged Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen, who went a perfect 20 for 20 in net for his second shutout of the postseason. The Panthers generated just three high-danger chances and missed the net on most of their best opportunities.
In the first three games — won by scores of 5-2, 5-0 and 6-2 — Florida had 30 combined high-danger chances and 74 total scoring chances.
Carolina, playing with its season on the line, was desperate to do anything to win. It paid off for the Hurricanes.
“We can’t hope that the game is just going to open up for us,” defenseman Dmitry Kulikov said. “We’ve got to go out there and take it.”
Florida has shown the ability to do that this postseason.
The Panthers were blown out in Game 3 of their first-round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the victim of defensive miscues that led to dangerous chances for Tampa Bay. Florida responded with a comeback win in Game 4 and a dominant showing in Game 5 to wrap up the series.
In the second round against Toronto, Florida shook off a pair of one-goal losses to begin the series by rattling off three consecutive wins. After getting shut out in Game 6, Florida returned to form with a dominant 6-1 win in Game 7.
Now they need to do the same against Carolina.
“Simple is better,” defenseman Seth Jones said. “We didn’t play our best game. I thought we didn’t manage the puck as well in the neutral zone as we usually do. We allowed them to tight gap us, but they played a good game. Give them credit. We’ll learn from those situations on how to be better and how to get the puck in play behind them.”
But something Florida will try to take solace in? Despite Monday being perhaps the Hurricanes’ best performance of the series and definitely the Panthers’ worst, it was still a 1-0 game until Maurice pulled goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for an extra attacker with about two and a half minutes left. Carolina scored twice at that point to seal the game.
“In a game that I didn’t like, I didn’t think we got dominated,” Maurice said.
That should be a good sign for Florida if it can return to form.
“Obviously, we put ourselves in a great position, great situation, going on the road, 3-1 lead,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “But we just have to bring our best. We were not at our best today and we’ll learn from this and be better next game.”
Injury updates
Maybe getting some reinforcements will help.
The Panthers played without three regulars in wingers Sam Reinhart and A.J. Greer as well as defenseman Niko Mikkola due to various injuries.
All three were on the ice Tuesday morning before the team flew to Raleigh. Maurice said a decision on their status for Game 5 will be made after morning skate on Wednesday.
“It’s what we expected. It’s what we hoped for,” Maurice said Tuesday. “We’ll put them on the ice again tomorrow.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2025 at 1:25 PM.
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