3 Keys: Hurricanes at Panthers, Game 3 of Eastern Conference Final

Carolina turns to Andersen in goal; Florida looks for fast start, 3-0 series lead

By Amalie Benjamin

@AmalieBenjamin NHL.com Senior Writer

May 22, 2023

(M1) Hurricanes at (WC2) Panthers

8 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS

Eastern Conference Final, Game 3

Florida leads best-of-7 series 2-0

SUNRISE, Fla. --The Florida Panthers arrived home having won each of the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes on the road. Now they have the opportunity to take a commanding lead in Game 3.

"You have to continue to play your game, continue to pounce on them when that opportunity shows," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "We're in a great spot right now. We would have taken that. And we earned it. But coming here, there's no sense in giving them life."

Teams that have gone up 2-0 in a best-of-7 series in the semifinal round of the playoffs have gone on to win 90.7 percent of the time (78-8).

Teams that have gone up 3-0 in a playoff series have won the series 98 percent of the time (200-4), but the Hurricanes are not exactly handing over the reins to the Panthers. They know they can get back into the series, and that starts with Game 3 after two straight overtime losses in Games 1 and 2.

"I don't think we've played our best game yet in this series," Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said. "We've got room to improve and that's the main focus tonight. It's just come out here and get our best effort out."

So do they need to change anything?

"Big picture, no," Aho said. "But there's little details in the game that we've got to be a little bit better at. When I say we haven't played our best game, it's not about effort or how hard we work. It's just about in certain moments being a little better, being a little sharper mentally. I believe it's going to turn those bounces in our favor."

Here are 3 keys for Game 3:

1. Andersen returns for Hurricanes

Though it's clear that the Panthers are sticking with goalie Sergei Bobrovsky after incredible performances in the first two games of the series -- making 63 saves on 65 shots in Game 1 and 37 saves on 38 shots in Game 2 -- there is less certainty game to game for the Hurricanes.

Antti Raanta started Game 2 after Frederik Andersen played seven periods in Game 1, including four in overtime.

Andersen will start Game 3 for Carolina. He has made seven starts in the postseason, with a 1.65 goals-against average and .936 save percentage.

2. Keep the pressure on early

The Panthers faced this exact scenario in the Eastern Conference Second Round, coming home ahead 2-0 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Instead of letting up and getting overconfident, they put the Maple Leafs on the brink of elimination with a 3-2 overtime win to go up 3-0. Although the Panthers lost Game 4, they were in a great position to win the series.

But they also know that the Hurricanes are going to come out strong early, like Carolina has historically done and as it did in Game 2. So putting the pressure on early could be crucial for the Panthers.

"I think we have to have a better start," Tkachuk said. "They had a really good start last game and had us on our heels for a little bit. We were able to weather that and 'Bob' made some big saves and allowed us to get to our game. … They're a great team over there, so expecting a push from them."

3. Goals, goals, goals

Against Bobrovsky and the Panthers, the Hurricanes have scored only three goals in two games. And that's not enough to take back control of this series, which means the Hurricanes need to figure out how to score on Bobrovsky -- and fast. That won't be easy, since he hasn't given up more than two goals in seven games since he allowed three to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the first round on April 30.

"I know it's a little bit cliché, but put a lot of pucks on him," Aho said. "Go in front of him, make him find the pucks around you and obviously going to get those seconds and thirds and try to bang those home. Making it hard for him. But, goal-scoring wise, I'm not too worried."