Hurricanes running out of time, answers, in Eastern Conference Final with Panthers
The Carolina Hurricanes are running out of answers.
They’ve alternated goalies.
They’ve changed up some of the lines and the matchups.
They’ve talked of making things more difficult for the opposing goalie.
There has been talk of maybe a “greasy” goal being what’s needed to get going, possibly flip the series.
But through three games of the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers, that’s all it has been — talk. All have been losses. Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has not found things difficult.
After a 1-0 shutout win Monday in Game 3, Florida needs just one more victory to end the Canes’ season and move on to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Hurricanes? Odds are, they’ll need something of a hockey miracle.
“There’s a lot to lose, so we’re still in the mindset that we have to win a game,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday. “That’s the way we came into this series and the way it is now.
“We’re not going to be changing too much. The execution on some things can be better. We can be … it’s tough to find fault in our game right now is really where it’s at. We do have to find a way to get a puck in the net. If we were getting 15 shots I’d say we have to do a lot more, but that’s not the case.”
In the Game 3 loss, the Hurricanes were credited with 32 shots on goal. In 5-on-5 play, they had 31 scoring chances to the Panthers’ 10. The offensive looks were there.
But the $10 million man in net, the guy simply called “Bob,” snuffed out everything. Brind’Amour noted center Sebastian Aho could have had two or three goals himself if it were not for Bobrovsky’s mastery of the crease.
“I’m liking how we’re playing,” Brind’Amour said. “We need to break the ice there a little bit and it will give us a chance. Keep doing what we’re doing and try to be a little better.
“You’ve got to be careful. You start making a whole bunch of changes and now your game that went from out-chancing a team goes the other way, and now we’re really in trouble. That’s kind of what you’re weighing.”
The Panthers were able to get through much of Game 3 at FLA Live Arena without center Aleksander Barkov, their captain, who left in the first period with a lower-body injury after a fairly innocuous hit from forward Jack Drury. Florida coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday he was optimistic Barkov might return for Game 4 on Wednesday.
Overshadowed by Bobrovsky’s play, the injury to Barkov and the eventual 1-0 victory was the play of Canes goalie Frederik Andersen. He gave up a power-play goal in the second period — Sam Reinhart with a well-placed upper-shelf shot — but made some high-quality stops among his 16 saves to keep it a one-goal game and likely earned himself another start in Game 4.
One way or the other, the Hurricanes will get on a team charter flight Wednesday for the trip back to Raleigh. It will either be for a Game 5 at PNC Arena or for their end-of-season exit interviews.
Brind’Amour said his phone has been “blowing up” since Game 3 with encouraging and motivational messages and texts. While appreciative of the support, it’s more about what happens on the ice Wednesday night.
The players, for their part, remain upbeat — “] think we’re good. We’re positive,” winger Seth Jarvis said Tuesday.
Defenseman Jaccob Slavin said “there’s a lot of belief in our locker room” about their ability to claw their way into the series. The three games, he said, have been “super tight.” The Canes, he said, have played good hockey.
“The feeling is we’re not out of it,” Slavin said.
Brind’Amour is realistic about things. As a player, he helped the Canes battle their way out of an 0-2 series deficit against the Montreal Canadiens to begin Carolina’s Stanley Cup run in 2006. The Canes won four straight against the Habs in that first-round series.
But an 0-3 hole? As Jarvis put it, it’s “do or die.”
“I expect us to come out tomorrow night and throw our best at ‘em and we’ll take it from there,” Brind’Amour said Tuesday. “We’re not going to win four games tomorrow. We’ve got to try to win one. It’s really that simple.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2023 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Hurricanes running out of time, answers, in Eastern Conference Final with Panthers."
