Hurricanes must get back to their game in Eastern Final

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2024-25 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher.

In this edition, Craig Johnson, a former assistant with the Anaheim Ducks and Ontario of the American Hockey League and development coach with the Los Angeles Kings, looks ahead to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final between the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). Florida leads 2-0 in the best-of-7 series after winning the first two games at Carolina.

After losing the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final at home, the Carolina Hurricanes need to look at the first period of Game 3 on Saturday and start from there. They’re going to go on the road and they’re going to have to play a gritty road game.

They can do it. They have the players.

But they need to clean up some things.

Coming off the 5-0 loss in Game 2 on Thursday, I would look, No. 1, at the Hurricanes’ effort and their commitment to checking well. They need to check well. They can’t cheat on offense.

All three 5-on-5 goals Florida scored Thursday were preventable if Carolina’s defense wasn't out of position.

On the Panthers’ first goal, scored by Gustav Forsling, they did a great job on the forecheck. Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker cheated a little for the offensive side of the puck and when it was turned over by Andrei Svechnikov to Matthew Tkachuk, three of Florida’s players -- Tkachuk, Forsling and Sam Bennett -- beat Carolina’s players off the wall.

So, it was basically three Panthers players versus one Hurricanes player, Dmitry Orlov, in front.

That first goal was consistent with how the night went for Carolina.

The second goal was also off the forecheck and another turnover by Svechnikov. It was a quick reload, and Carter Verhaeghe circled out from behind the net.

The Hurricanes defend in layers, but they go a lot of man-to-man, especially as the puck goes high. So, when Orlov drifts way up to where Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola was near the top of the right circle, the winger collapses and that basically leaves Verhaeghe and Tkachuk with a 2-on-1 with the net-front defenseman.

That was two goals where a Carolina defenseman drifted, and Florida was able to capitalize by numbers and just by being a little bit quicker off the wall.

On Bennett’s goal that made it 4-0, the Panthers again used the back of the net and Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns was extended high in the zone near the right point. So, Carolina was in that man-to-man and Burns gets beat back to the net by Bennett. Verhaeghe does that wraparound, and Bennett ends up with a Grade-A chance and buries it.

I thought Florida just outworked Carolina in small little areas. The Panthers were first off walls, they used the back of the net, and, in each of those examples, they just beat the Hurricanes to certain spots on the ice.

Carolina needs to correct that and get back to playing the way it did in the first two rounds. The Hurricanes use shots to create more shots, and they had only 17 shots on goal in Game 2.

But they also didn’t have the puck a lot in areas where they could shoot it. The Panthers did a great job of closing on them.

When Carolina plays well, it is relentless on the forecheck, it hunts pucks, it’s reloading above the puck. When it’s doing that, it’s a tough team to play against.

If the Hurricanes get back to that approach where their shots create more shots, you put the opposing team on their heels a little bit and you get them running around. That’s where I think a three-high approach, moving a forward up in the zone into the middle to extend the Panthers out of their comfort zone, could help them.

I thought Florida broke out pucks really well, and it kind of stifled Carolina’s forecheck. But can the Hurricanes do more on the forecheck? Can they make the Panthers’ defensemen turn?

If they can make them turn and put them under a little bit of pressure, they’ll be able to turn pucks over. Then, they can get the puck low to high, and that can become the Hurricanes’ offense.

They shoot a lot, they recover pucks, and they keep throwing pucks toward the net. Then, when that happens, all of a sudden, they extend their time in the offensive zone. And if they bring that forward up a little bit higher, they can work some give-and-goes and get their defensemen a little bit more involved in the offense.

Another area Carolina needs to correct is its discipline, especially Svechnikov, who took that roughing penalty on Tkachuk that led to Bennett’s power-play goal that made it 3-0. He can’t take those penalties. He’s supposed to be scoring goals.

And when Florida’s power play is working like it’s working (4-for-5 in the first two games), it makes it tough every time Carolina takes undisciplined penalties.

The Panthers know how to win and are just more disciplined right now. They are defending well. They’re using good sticks and they’re doing the little things that win hockey games. They’re first off the boards every time, they’re always on the right side of the puck and they’re breaking out pucks really well.

Bennett has been impressive all playoffs. He is setting himself up to be the top unrestricted free agent for the upcoming offseason. Plays the right way all the time, can run people over and can score.

The Panthers have been really physical too; they had 56 hits in Game 2. They’re playing physical and they’re hitting hard, and you can see it’s taking a toll on the Hurricanes.

Everybody is talking now about Carolina’s history that it has lost 14 straight games in the conference final, and it can play on you a little bit. Then, if you get behind early like the Hurricanes did again in Game 2, you feel like you need to score a goal right away.

Even if they fall behind, though, they need to play the right way, don’t try to cheat the game, and I thought they tried to cheat the game too much Thursday.

Carolina needs to play a little faster, with more pace, and it has to be on right side of the puck defensively and has to do a better job at hunting pucks down offensively.

One thing with the Panthers is they sometimes over-funnel when they’re coming back into the zone, so there could be chances for the Hurricanes off the rush where they hit the fourth man joining the rush.

So, there are opportunities there for Carolina, but its work ethic has to be No. 1.