FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Carolina Hurricanes know they face a steep climb against the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final.
Despite trailing the defending Stanley Cup champions 3-0 in the best-of-7 series and facing elimination in Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC), the Hurricanes are trying to embrace the challenge ahead of them.
"I think the biggest thing is just believing in ourselves," forward Seth Jarvis said after the morning skate. "I think you can get in these situations and kind of get down or really just kind of mail it in, but I think with this group there's none of that happening. … We're all excited for the opportunity to maybe do something not many teams have done before and come back.
"It all starts with one and creating a little momentum."
Carolina will try to become the fifth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit to win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (4-208), and the first since the Los Angeles Kings against the San Jose Sharks in the 2014 Western Conference Quarterfinals.
But right now, the Hurricanes are focused on the smaller picture of trying to win Game 4 and force a Game 5 back at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday.
"We've got to come out with everything we've got," Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. "It's a full sprint now. They're way ahead of us and we've got to give it all we got. Throw everything at them and keep chipping away."
Looking for a spark, Carolina will turn back to goalie Frederik Andersen after Pyotr Kochetkov made his first start of the series in a 6-2 loss in Game 3 on Saturday.
It still won't be easy, however, with defensemen Jalen Chatfield and Sean Walker still out because of undisclosed injuries, meaning rookie defensemen Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow will remain in the lineup.
The Hurricanes say they still believe in themselves, though.
"I can tell you for a fact that everyone in there is going to give 110 percent effort tonight and into the next games as well," rookie forward Logan Stankoven said. "If we can get a win tonight and create some confidence, that's going to be huge for us. So we're all excited for tonight."
The Hurricanes don't have a lot of positives to build on from the first three games. They were outscored 16-4 and have yet to play with the lead.
But Carolina showed a glimpse of what it's capable of when it played well in the second period of Game 3. After falling behind in the first period for the third straight game, the Hurricanes pushed back in the second, establishing some persistent pressure with their forecheck, outshooting the Panthers 10-8, and tying the score 1-1 on Stankoven's power-play goal at 14:51.
Their hope to repeat that in the third period dissipated when the Panthers scored five unanswered goals in span of 9:08, beginning with Jesper Boqvist at 1:29.
The Hurricanes feel they at least saw a template for success in that second period though.
"That's what we've been looking for," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I think the key was [Kochetkov] made some serves early and you can play your game. I think getting behind has been a killer for us because it just feeds right into what they do very, very well. When we looked it, even when it was 2-1, we had a great shift right before the third goal. We hit the crossbar. We've got to build on, it's little moments, but that's what it is in this series.
"If a chance here or there that you create, you've got to finish and you can't give them anything, and it's tough. You're asking a lot, but it's hard and we've got to embrace that."
