Panthers Rout Hurricanes 5-2 in Game 1 Win

For the second time in three seasons, the Carolina Hurricanes will face the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. The last time these two met, the Panthers swept the Hurricanes in four games back in 2023. The 2025 Hurricanes had a point to prove that they were different. On the flip side, the Panthers were looking to head back to the Stanley Cup Final for the third consecutive playoffs. Going into Game 1, who was going to come out on top in a system versus system showdown? As the final horn sounded, the Panthers routed the Hurricanes 5-2 in Game 1 to take a 1-0 series lead.

Game Recap

The first period had everything in it to start the Eastern Conference Final: huge hits, big saves, momentum shifts, and three goals. The Hurricanes started by setting the tempo with the physicality, which saw them lead in hits 23-19 after the first period. However, a retaliatory play by Sebastian Aho saw the Panthers have a modified penalty after there were 16 seconds of 4-on-4 play. Subsequently, Carter Verhaeghe scored the first goal of the series with 30 seconds left on the Panthers’ power play as he flipped the puck over the shoulder of Frederik Andersen, on the backhand, to make it a 1-0 game. About four minutes later, a turnover by Jordan Staal saw the Panthers take advantage as Aaron Ekblad roofed the puck past Andersen, with some help from traffic in front of the net, to make it a 2-0 lead for the visitors.

Just like that, in four minutes, the game went from scoreless to the Panthers up 2-0 in a flash. As the period wound down, the Hurricanes were throwing everything at the net on Sergei Bobrovsky, but nothing was going their way. However, with 14.8 seconds left in the first period, Aho was able to redirect the puck from Seth Jarvis to score his fourth goal of the playoffs. That was a much-needed goal to cut the lead in half with less than 30 seconds left in the first period. A backbreaker at the time for the Panthers, who thought they were going to be up 2-0 after two periods. After one period, it was 2-1 Panthers with the Hurricanes leading in shots on goal (SOG) 10-7.

The second period only saw one goal as AJ Greer scored his second of the playoffs. It was a clean finish of a 2-on-1 with Niko Mikkola to double their lead again. It was a tough goal against for the Hurricanes as Scott Morrow was left to dry as the home team was in the middle of a change on an odd-man rush. Nothing Andersen could do there as he was left to dry for 90% of the game. Even though the Hurricanes outshot the Panthers 9-8 in the second period, they trailed 3-1 after two frames.