The Canes were one good third period away from possibly winning Game 3 and making the Panthers sweat out this Eastern Conference Final series.  But, the Panthers scored 5 times in a 9:08 span and cruised to a 6-2 win.  Pyotr Kochetkov started and was excellent for 40 minutes, but he ran out of magic as Florida moved to within 1 win of their 3rd straight Stanley Cup Finals series.

The Panthers took advantage of a bevy of Hurricanes mistakes and humiliated Carolina in Game 2. Andrei Svechnikov turned the puck over 3 times in the 1st period. The first directly led to a Gustav Forsling goal just 77 seconds into the game. Florida led the game 3-0 before the first intermission and the Canes never really threatened. Sebastian Aho did have a goal called back for the play being offside early in the 2nd period, but Carolina never really threatened to score after that and Florida are two home wins away from reaching their third straight Stanley Cup Finals. 

The Panthers scored twice on the power play, Sergei Bobrovsky outplayed Frederik Andersen, and the Canes lost Game 1, 5-2. They trail the Eastern Conference Finals 1-0 with Game 2 on Thursday. Sebastian Aho and Jackson Blake scored for the Hurricanes, but once they fell behind they never got their footing in the game. Bobrovsky made 31 saves. Andersen allowed 5 goals on 20 shots. 

The Canes got another game-winning goal from Andrei Svechnikov and Frederik Andersen stopped 18 of 19 shots he saw as Carolina won 3-1 and claimed the series in 5 games. Carolina will play the winner of the series between the Panthers and Maple Leafs for the right to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. Jordan Staal and Seth Jarvis also scored for the Hurricanes who improved to 5-0 in the playoffs when they score the first goal. 

Freddie Andersen stopped 19 shots, Taylor Hall and Sean Walker scored huge 3rd period goals and the Canes beat the Capitals, 5-2, taking a 3-1 lead in the series. The Hurricanes can eliminate the Capitals on Thursday night in Washington. Carolina lead 1-0 after 1 on a Shayne Gostisbehere goal. Seth Jarvis scored early in the 2nd to double the lead. Hall and Walker answered Washington 3rd period goals as once Carolina had the lead they never gave it up. For what this is worth, the Hurricanes have never lost a best-of-seven series in which they held a 3-1 lead. 

The Canes beat the Caps, 4-0, Saturday night as Frederik Andersen shut Washington out on 21 saves and Andrei Svechnikov scored his 6th goal of the playoffs.  Carolina takes a 2-1 series lead heading to Game 4 on Monday night.  Andersen's best work was done early steering aside 9 Washington shots in the first period to keep the game scoreless.  Svechnikov broke the scoreless tie with a great goal right off of an offensive zone face off.  Jack Roslovic scored his firsst goal of the playoffs on the power play before the end of the second period.  Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake scored in the 3rd period with Blake's goal coming on the power play.

The Canes gave up the first goal - and the second - and couldn't rally in the 3rd period for a 3-1 loss to Washington. The series is even at 1-1 heading to Raleigh for games 3 and 4. Shayne Gostisbehere scored Carolina's only goal, a power play marker, in the 3rd period. Frederik Andersen made 18 saves in the loss. 

Jaccob Slavin's 2nd goal of the playoffs, 3:06 into overtime, gave the Canes a 2-1 win and a 1-0 series lead over the Capitals in Washington. Logan Stankoven's 3rd of the playoffs tied the game at 1-1 midway through the 3rd period. Freddie Andersen stopped 13 shots for his 4th postseason win. Carolina will go for a third straight playoff road win on Thursday night in DC. 

Sebastian Aho's second power play goal of the night, 4:17 into the second overtime, punched the Canes' ticket to the second round and capped off a huge comeback in a 5-4 win over the New Jersey Devils. Jersey led 3-0 after the first 10 minutes as the Canes were playing in quicksand from the start. But, Carolina needed just 5:40 of the second period to draw even. Goals from Taylor Hall, Jackson Blake and Andrei Svechnikov made it a brand new game. The Canes would trail again, as Devils star Nico Hischier would score his 4th goal of the series, but Aho's first power play goal of the night leveled the game again. From there, Carolina did everything but score as they peppered New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom over the final 44:17, out-shooting the Devils 34-12 with the last shot being Aho's second power play goal of the night. Aho led Carolina with 8 points in the series and now has 30 goals and 78 points in 79 career playoff games. Pyotr Kochetkov survived a disastrous opening frame as a starter for the first time in the playoffs. Carolina awaits the winner of the series between the Capitals and Canadiens. Notes: Aho is the first Hurricanes player to have 2 series-ending overtime game-winning goals. His goal eliminated the Nashville Predators in the opening round in 2021 before tonight. And, the Hurricanes are into the second round of the playoffs for the fifth straight year. The only team in the NHL that can say that. 

The Canes took Game 4 from the Devils, 5-2, as Andrei Svechnikov registered his second career playoff hat trick.  The win puts Carolina on the brink of the second round of the playoffs for the 5th consecutive season as they can close out New Jersey Tuesday night in Raleigh.  Freddie Andersen started for the 4th straight playoff game and was sailing along with a 3-1 lead until Timo Meier crashed into him in the crease early in the 2nd period.  Andersen was forced to leave the game as Pyotr Kochetkov came on for the first time in the series.  He quickly gave up a goal to Meier but shut the door the rest of the way. Svechnikov scored 52 seconds into the game, then knocked in a power play goal in the first minute of the 2nd period and campped the scoring with an empty net goal with just under 4 minutes to play.  Sebastian Aho and Jackson Blake each had 2 assists.