Recap: Canes Crumble Late, Drop Game 3

SUNRISE, Fla. - A putrid third period spelled doom for the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday as they lost 6-2 to the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final.

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For the third straight game, the Hurricanes found themselves trailing after 20 minutes as a tough bounce gave Florida an early 1-0 lead. But unlike in Games 1 and 2, Carolina scored the game's second goal to even the score late in the second stanza, with Logan Stankoven poking home a rebound on the power play.

Despite momentum being on the Canes' side following their best period of the series, things immediately took a sharp turn for the worse after the puck dropped for the final frame. Florida found twine at 1:29 to regain its lead, then later piled on four more in a span of 4:11 to effectively stamp out Carolina's comeback bid. Seth Jarvis potted a power-play goal just before the midway mark of the period, but the damage was done.

Pyotr Kochetkov, starting for the first time since Game 5 of the first round, stopped 22 of 28 shots in his first career Conference Final appearance.

Stats & Standouts

• Logan Stankoven scored to become the first rookie on record (since conferences were renamed in 1994) to record a point in both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals.
• Stankoven also became the third rookie in franchise history to score four goals in a single postseason, joining Erik Cole and Warren Foegele. His four tallies rank T-3rd among Hurricanes skaters, surpassing the three he scored with Dallas in 2023-24.
• Not only were the Canes without defenseman Jalen Chatfield (undisclosed injury) for a fourth straight game, but they were also missing Sean Walker, who suffered an injury of his own in Game 2. Walker took pre-game warmups, but the end result was a pair of rookies on Carolina's blue line - Scott Morrow and Alexander Nikishin.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour on what went wrong in Game 3...

“I think we were there, obviously, we were playing better. And then just to turn pucks over, it’s not what we do. No one does that. I was just pretty surprised. You can’t do that, and you can’t do that anytime. In a preseason game, that’s going to cost you, but against that team, you turn it over for an odd-man rush? Forget it. We know that. That was really, I think, demoralizing, because we know the margin is tight. We had a couple of chances, but again, we’ve got to score when you get those opportunities to maybe get a lead, maybe, otherwise it’s just really tough against them.”

Jordan Staal on missed offensive chances leading to goals against...

“There’s been some bad timing for sure, throughout the series. Just goal-wise, I think there have been opportunities for us to get one and they come right back down and score. We would like the hockey gods to even that out at some point, but we have to also work for those. You’re not just going to get good bounces if you’re not working for them, creating momentum and grinding them down. Eventually, those chances do come, but I don’t think we’re doing that enough to get those few bounces to get us going.”

Sebastian Aho on what needs to happen for a different outcome on Monday...

“Obviously, we’ll go over tomorrow what we did good, what we did bad. Believe what we have here. Gather everything we got and throw it at them next game. No tomorrow mentality and go from there.”

What's Next?

• The Canes are not scheduled to practice on Sunday and will return to action in Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.
• Next Game: Monday, May 26 | ECF, Game 4 at Florida | 8:00 p.m. ET
• Next Home Game (if necessary): Wednesday, May 28 | ECF, Game 5 vs. Florida | 8:00 p.m. ET | Tickets | Parking