The Florida Panthers continued their domination of the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final, bringing the Hurricanes to the brink of elimination as the series record stands at 3-0. With both Sam Reinhart and Sean Walker injured and out for their respective teams, Pyotr Kochetkov called upon as the Hurricanes’ starting netminder, and Scott Morrow and Alexander Nikishin drawing into the lineup for the Canes, this game looked quite a bit different for both teams (despite the all-too-familiar result).
Game Recap
The Panthers had two excellent looks early in the first period courtesy of Seth Jones and Sam Bennett, but Kochetkov managed to keep them both out. At the midway point of the first period, the Hurricanes seemed to be holding their own much more successfully than in Games 1 and 2; neither team had let up a goal at this point in the game. The Panthers broke the scoreless tie with around eight minutes left in the first period; Niko Mikkola capitalized on a chance in close by attempting a cross-crease pass to the awaiting Aleksander Barkov, just to have the puck bounce in off Dmitry Orlov and past Kochetkov.
With around three minutes left in the period, Eetu Luostarinen drove Jackson Blake headfirst into the boards on a backchecking play. This resulted in Luostarinen being tossed from the game after being assessed a five-minute major penalty as well as a game misconduct. Luckily, Blake managed to skate off the ice of his own accord. The Panthers headed into the first intermission up 1-0, and the Hurricanes carried over about two minutes of power-play time into the second period. Shots on goal were tied 7-7 at the end of the period.
Blake was back on the bench to start the second period as the Hurricanes continued their long power play. Jesperi Kotkaniemi negated the final eight seconds of the Canes’ power play as he cross-checked Seth Jones in the corner, giving the Panthers a truncated 1:52 power play. The Panthers also failed to convert on their power play, and the second period continued on with 5-on-5 hockey. The Hurricanes tied the game at 1-1 on the power play with about five minutes remaining in the second period courtesy of Logan Stankoven. This period was arguably the first period the Hurricanes have won against the Panthers this entire series; the period ended with the score knotted up at 1-1, and shots on goal favored the Hurricanes, 17-15.
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Jesper Boqvist, standing in for Reinhart, started the final frame of the game off right for the Panthers with a beauty of a backhand shot to bring the scoreline to 2-1. Mikkola tallied yet another goal around the seven-minute mark of the third period – his second of the night – bringing the Panthers’ lead to 3-1. Mere seconds later, while replays of Mikkola’s goal were still being shown, Barkov scored his first of the night to bring the scoreline to 4-1. A few minutes after the Panthers’ barrage of goals, Mikkola went to the room after going into the boards awkwardly on a backchecking play.
At the halfway mark of the third period, Barkov netted his second goal of the evening, putting the Panthers up 5-1. As if a three-goal run wasn’t enough, Brad Marchand got in on the fun and netted his first of the evening, giving the home team a 6-1 lead. The Hurricanes managed to staunch the bleeding a bit by getting a goal back courtesy of Seth Jarvis to cut the Panthers’ now-substantial lead to 6-2. Game 3 ended at that scoreline with the shots on goal favoring the Panthers 28-25.
