Hurricanes done in by mistakes, missed chances in Game 1 loss to Panthers

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Near misses on Grade-A looks. Poor special teams. Frederik Andersen not at his best. Not enough pushback.

This is not the recipe for the Carolina Hurricanes to finally win a game in the Eastern Conference Final. It certainly isn't the recipe to beat a championship team, one that is still as good, as deep, as talented and as smart as the Florida Panthers.

The Hurricanes, simply put, didn't have enough in Game 1 against the Panthers at Lenovo Center on Tuesday and the score reflected it.

Panthers 5, Hurricanes 2.

That's nine straight losses for the Hurricanes in three trips to the Eastern Conference Final under coach Rod Brind'Amour going back to 2019. It's 13 straight losses in this round for Carolina dating to 2009.

"We've got to learn from it," Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. "Obviously, it wasn't good enough. There's little things that we need to do better. Special teams is always big. The kill hasn't let a couple in in a while and that hurt us tonight. The power play had some good looks but can always get one to help us get some momentum. They played a good game. We've got to be better, obviously. That's a good team. We'll learn from our mistakes and try to find some edges so we can have a better result."

They'll try again in Game 2 at Lenovo Center on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, MAX, SN, CBC, TVAS).

"All the confidence in the world we're going to figure this out," Carolina forward Seth Jarvis said.

The Hurricanes never wavered in their confidence playing against Florida in the conference final two years ago.

They also never won.

They were swept in a series that could have swung the other way if not for a bounce here and a bounce there. All four games were decided by one goal. Games 1 and 2 ended in overtime. Game 1 went to four OTs.

This, on Tuesday night, was not that.

Staal said he didn't think the Hurricanes were dominated. Jarvis said he didn't hate their game. But Florida was better in every area even on a night when Panthers coach Paul Maurice said he didn't love his team's game.

Imagine what it will look like when he does.

The Panthers went 2-for-3 on the power play, matching the number of power-play goals Carolina allowed in its first 10 games in the playoffs.

They were 3-for-4 on the penalty kill, although Carolina's power-play goal was a window-dressing score with 3:41 to play in the third period. The Hurricanes were 0-for-3 until the game was out of reach at 5-1.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves on 33 shots. Andersen stopped only 15 of 20.

The Panthers scored three goals in the first 23:33 of the game, more than Andersen allowed in regulation in any of his previous nine starts in this postseason.

Carter Verhaeghe had all kinds of space in the slot for a power-play goal at 8:30 of the first period to make it 1-0 with Dmitry Orlov caught in Florida's triangle featuring Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Verhaeghe.

"I think we got a little mixed up between two guys there, just a little hole and he made a great shot to start them off," Staal said.

Staal's turnover in the defensive zone led to a way-too-easy goal one-timer from the left face-off circle for Aaron Ekblad, making it 2-0 at 12:29 of the first.

"I had a hiccup there in the corner and they put it in the back of the net," Staal said. "They made me pay on my mistake."

Sebastian Aho had a puck redirect into the net off his right skate at 19:44 of the first period to give Carolina life, but A.J. Greer scored off the rush to make it 3-1 at 3:33 of the second.

"They buried their chances when they had them," Staal said.

Sam Bennett did on the power play with a shot from distance through traffic at 6:08 of the third and Eetu Luostarinen did with an open weakside one-timer from the left circle at 14:55.

The Hurricanes did not do any of that.

"You've got to finish," Brind'Amour said.

Logan Stankoven missed an open net on a tip of Shayne Gostisbehere's pass at 11:55 first period, and 34 seconds later Ekblad scored.

Aho couldn't score on a breakaway at 15:14 of the first period, Bobrovsky closing his five-hole in time. Jarvis couldn't score on a look from between the circles nine seconds later.

Bobrovsky made a strong glove save on Jack Roslovic's shot from the left hash marks at 7:43 of the second.

Jarvis' tip-in attempt went over the crossbar on a Hurricanes power play at 12:30 of the second.

"If you go over those chances, I'm sure there's enough out there for us to win the game," Staal said. "We gave them too many."

The Hurricanes better find the recipe in Game 2 or the sweep narrative will grow.

"Yeah, there's urgency," Staal said.