RALEIGH, N.C. – Let’s steal two.
Trying to take a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final before heading home, the Florida Panthers will clash with the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 at Lenovo Center on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
In NHL history, teams that start 2-0 on the road go on to win the series 80.2% of the time.
“We want to get greedy,” defenseman Seth Jones said. “We want to come in here and not just roll over and not be OK with playing an OK game just because we stole one on the road. We want to come here, get two [wins], and put their backs against the wall. We understand it’s probably going to be a long series, so we want to chip away game by game.”
Picking up right where they left off just 48 hours after winning Game 7 in Toronto, the Panthers couldn’t have asked for a better start in Game 1 against the Hurricanes.
Netting the all-important first goal, Carter Verhaeghe roofed a backhand shot on the power play to put the defending Stanley Cup champions on top 1-0 just 8:30 into the first period.
Soon after, Aaron Ekblad buried a shot from the left circle to make it 2-0.
Despite a late goal in the first from Sebastian Aho that cut Carolina's deficit to 2-1, the Panthers swiped momentum back just 3:33 into the second period when A.J. Greer deposited a filthy feed from Niko Mikkola to make it 3-1.
Pulling away in the third period, Sam Bennett struck on the power play and Eetu Luostarinen stayed hot with another goal to put the Panthers up 5-1 before Jackson Blake touched twine on the power play to get another goal for Carolina and make it 5-2.
The top defensive team in the playoffs entering the series, the Hurricanes had previously surrendered just seven total goals and two power-play goals through the first two rounds.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Jones said of the win. “Our forecheck was [good]. I thought we were physical. Bob (Sergei Bobrovsky) made big saves when he needed to. I thought defensively we did a decent job boxing out around him and giving him clear vision.”
Stopping 31 of 33 shots in Game 1, Bobrovsky remains on a roll.
Doing his thing as “Playoff Bob,” the 36-year-old veteran has allowed two or fewer goals in each of his last five starts, going 4-1 while stopping 119 of 125 shots in that span for a .952 save percentage.
Per MoneyPuck.com, he ranks fifth in the playoffs with 3.5 goals saved above expected.
“After you see it up close, you realize there’s a reason for it,” forward Brad Marchand said of Bobrovsky’s continued excellence. “He competes so hard every day. He’s probably the most dedicated player that I’ve ever played with.”
In Game 2, Carolina will look to avoid doing something it hasn’t done all playoffs.
Lose two games in a row.
Dropping just one game in both Round 1 (4-1 over New Jersey) and Round 2 (4-1 over Washington), the Hurricanes have been very good at bouncing back this postseason.
In their two games following losses, they’ve outscored the opposition 9-2.
The top possession team in the playoffs, the Hurricanes did control 59.57% of shot attempts in Game 1 against the Panthers, but those numbers are a bit misleading.
With the Panthers sitting on a large lead, the Hurricanes tilted those scales quite a bit during a desperate third period, leading 23-9 in shot attempts over the final 20 minutes.
Seth Jarvis, who leads Carolina with 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in the playoffs, and Aho, who ranks second on the team with 11 points (four goals, seven assists), each tallied five scoring chances in Game 1, with Aho being the only of the dynamic duo to touch twine.
Entering the series with the top save percentage in the playoffs, Frederik Andersen suffered his worst defeat of the playoffs in Game 1, surrendering five goals on just 20 shots against.
In Rounds 1 and 2, the 35-year-old veteran had allowed more than two goals just once.
Despite loving their own barn, the Panthers have often been at their best on the road.
Scoring at least three goals in their last six road games -- the second-longest such run in franchise history -- the Panthers lead 38-18 in goals on the road so far this postseason.
Overall, Florida owns a 6-2 road record since the playoffs began.
“We would expect the best game out of Carolina tonight,” Marchand said. “You have to be completely prepared to match that and be prepared for what they’re going to bring. You can’t look ahead. It’s one of those things where when you lose a game you rebound really hard, and Carolina always does that."
THEY SAID IT
“Both teams are going to come out hard again. We don’t expect anything different. We’re worried about what we can do to be better in our style of play. At the end of the day, we believe if we play our game and play it to the best of our ability, we’ll have a good chance to win.” – Seth Jones
“If you start looking at the potential outcomes of games and where you could sit, you can kind of go down the wrong path there and allow your mind to deviate from what you need to focus on to actually have success. I think that’s one of the biggest things with this group, we don’t look ahead, we don’t look behind. It’s in the moment.” – Brad Marchand
FIVE CATS STATS
- The Panthers rank first in the playoffs with an 88.1% success rate on the penalty kill.
- Eetu Luostarinen ranks first in the playoffs with 12 points (4G, 8A) on the road.
- Sam Bennett leads the Panthers with seven goals in this year’s postseason.
- The Panthers have had 17 different goal scorers through 13 playoff games.
- Aaron Ekblad has recorded at least one point in six of his last eight contests.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Thursday, May 22 at 8 p.m. ET
Where: Lenovo Center – Raleigh, NC
TV: TNT, Max, SN, CBC, TVAS
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 92.1 WZZR-FM & 1230 WBZT-AM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); Panthers App; SiriusXM Channel 220 / App & Streaming 931
Watch Party: FTL War Memorial
