Playoff Notebook: On To The Next One

RALEIGH, NC. -The stage is set for the Eastern Conference Final and rememberers of the Southeast Division, rejoice.

The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers will meet for the first time in postseason history, with the winner advancing for a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup.

Just over 12 hours after learning their opponent, Rod Brind'Amour's club was back to work, getting a practice in at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Know Your Foe

The Canes and Cats met just one month ago today, putting the bow on their 2022-23 regular season schedules at FLA Live Arena.

That bout had major implications on the line, with Carolina needing a victory to lock up a third consecutive division championship. A Florida win, combined with a New Jersey Devils victory, could have meant that the Panthers and Canes as a first-round matchup.

Instead, here we are 30 days later with even higher stakes and a third-round faceoff between the two sides.

"They've beat two very good teams already, so you have to be a really good team to be able to do that," Sebastian Aho opened with when asked about his team's next test. "They're fast, they have skill, and they're willing to grind. Those are the reasons they're still playing. They're just a good team."

Around the locker room speed was a buzzword today when players described Paul Maurice's club.

"They're a quick team. They try to go in transition a lot," Martin Necas shared.

But wait. Speed, plus transition game. Where have heard that before?

It felt like those two descriptions were exactly what was being highlighted as strengths of the Devils ahead of the second-round series.

However, no two adversaries are identical, and Brind'Amour was both quick to give the Panthers credit, and back to beating the drum of his team needing to play to their fullest potential.

"Listen, if you're playing this time of year, you can check all of the above. You have to have those things or they wouldn't be playing," the head coach responded when discussing Florida's speed and abilities in transition. "I know we sound like a broken record, but we're going to have to be at our best. The team we're playing, they've got everything covered, top to bottom."

Staal In The Family

There are many, many storylines to the series, but perhaps the biggest is that the conference final will feature Jordan Staal taking on brothers Eric and Marc.

Come later this week the siblings will put it all on the line and do anything necessary to help their respective team advance, but at least for today, the overall excitement prevailed.

"It's great. It's best case scenario. If we're going to meet each other in the playoffs, it might as well be in the finals of the same conference," the Captain spoke with a smile. "It's really exciting for our family."

The Staals have been in this situation before, with Jordan and Eric squaring off in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Then, it was Eric who was clad in red, black, and white, while Jordan was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Jordan got the better of the two that round, going on to win it all in just his third season as an NHLer.

"Obviously, I wanted to be on the right side of that, so it is what it is. It's never easy ending a brother's season, but someone's got to win," he reflected. "Unfortunately I don't want to be the one on the other side of it, so I'm going do what I can (to win), whatever that is... It's a part of playoff hockey. Someone's got to win and someone's got to lose."

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