Panthers look every bit like reigning Stanley Cup champs in routing Hurricanes to open Eastern final

RALEIGH N C AP It didn t matter that the Florida Panthers were playing hours since having to win a Tournament on the road to reach the Eastern Conference final Nor did it matter they were playing in front of a rowdy hostile crowd against a club that had yet to lose at home and had been lockdown-elite on the penalty kill Instead the Panthers methodically jumped on the Carolina Hurricanes this instant ripped away home-ice advantage and played with an edge befitting their status as reigning Stanley Cup champions in Tuesday night s - win in Championship I don t know if it s a report reported Carter Verhaeghe who had a power-play goal midway through the first period to put Florida ahead and keep Carolina in chase mode for good They re going to come back with their best We re just trying to go in and play our match every single time To listen to Verhaeghe and coach Paul Maurice it wasn t the aftermath of a few lights-out performance of relentless perfection There were hiccups in transitioning from series against Tampa Bay and Toronto teams with different styles that rely on as Maurice revealed being so dynamic up the middle of the ice compared to a different rush style with a Carolina gang that relies on a an aggressive forecheck to pressure and control the puck in the offensive zone I think the best expansion in our squad comes off losses Maurice disclosed I think that s where we learn more I didn t love our match tonight But I understood it Key style change so the Event is that first look at what your challenge looks like in a perfectly different opponent Maybe so but it was more than good enough The Panthers were coming off a - win on Sunday in Competition of the second-round series against the Maple Leafs That set up a rematch of the East final swept by the Panthers by four one-game margins including a four-overtime thriller in that Event that ended on Matthew Tkachuk s winner during the sixth-longest encounter in NHL history The Panthers waited to fly to Carolina on Monday to stick with their usual postgame routine of staying in the road city to rest and recover Then they went on to take care of this competition with far less theatrics need to win that epic opener this time against a Hurricanes unit that was - at home in the playoffs and had been off since closing out the conference s top-seeded Washington Capitals last Thursday We know what to do and we know the recipe and our identity revealed fourth-line forward A J Greer who had a critical second-period goal to restore a two-goal margin Verhaeghe started by finding space alone near the edge of the crease on a first-period power play then backhanded a rising puck past Frederik Andersen and into the upper right corner of the net for quick strike against a Hurricanes kill that had been the postseason s best by allowing just two goals through attempts in two rounds Aaron Ekblad followed four minutes later for the tone-setting - lead Then Greer answered Sebastian Aho s off-the-skate total in the final seconds of the first period by finishing a perfect -on- backhanded feed from Niko Mikkola before Sam Bennett followed with another power-play total with Brad Marchand screening Andersen in the third Eetu Luostarinen added a goal for a - lead with the outcome long decided making it five different players finding the net and players tallying at least one point Meanwhile Sergei Bobrovsky finished with saves in his latest Carolina-befuddling effort notably a glove stop on Jack Roslovic s shot from the slot after losing his stick midway through the second They re going to do the same thing we re doing Carolina captain Jordan Staal noted You can tell they do very similar stuff and they try to grind you down too They re here for a reason they know how to do it well By the end the only buzz left came from Marchand and Carolina s Shayne Gostisbehere getting into a third-period tussle with Gostisbehere saying he shot a puck at Marchand after the veteran acquired from Boston at the arrangement deadline took a run at me Marchand ultimately earned a game-misconduct penalty and had an official escorting him to the locker-room tunnel with Marchand barking back toward center ice the whole time It was the perfect defiant tone for Florida s win Our depth has been incredible all year and especially in the playoffs Bennett noted Every line is showing up all our defense Bobi obviously But it really has been a full crew effort every single night and it makes it a lot easier when you have every guy stepping up and playing like that AP NHL playoffs https apnews com hub stanley-cup and https apnews com hub nhl Source