Niko Mikkola and Aleksander Barkov each netted two goals as the Florida Panthers overwhelmed the Carolina Hurricanes with a 6-2 victory on Saturday night. This decisive win places the Panthers just one game away from their third consecutive appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
Jesper Boqvist, stepping in for the injured Sam Reinhart, delivered the pivotal go-ahead goal early in the third period. With this victory, Florida now holds a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. Brad Marchand also contributed to the scoreline, while goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves to secure the win.
Carolina's Logan Stankoven and Seth Jarvis managed to find the net, but their efforts were not enough to prevent a 15th consecutive loss in Eastern Conference finals games. The Hurricanes have faced sweeps from Pittsburgh in 2009, Boston in 2019, and now Florida in 2023, putting them on the verge of another early exit.
Game 4 is set for Monday in Sunrise, where the Panthers will look to close out the series. Florida's five goals in the third period marked a franchise record for any playoff period, overshadowing Carolina's decision to switch goaltenders prior to Game 3. The Hurricanes opted for Pyotr Kochetkov after Frederik Andersen struggled, allowing nine goals on just 36 shots across the first five periods of the series.
Kochetkov initially performed well, stopping 14 of 15 shots through two periods. However, the third period proved disastrous for him and the Hurricanes.
The scoring opened with a fortunate bounce for Florida. Barkov's pass across the crease deflected off Evan Rodrigues' stick and found Mikkola. Attempting to return it to Barkov, Mikkola's pass instead ricocheted off Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov and slipped past Kochetkov, giving Florida an 11-2 cumulative lead in the series at that point.
Stankoven, who had been denied by Bobrovsky earlier in the game, finally broke through on a power play at 14:51 of the second period. Brent Burns fired a shot from near the blue line that Bobrovsky saved, but the rebound bounced off his leg and Stankoven redirected it into the net, leveling the score at 1-1—the first tie of the series beyond the initial 0-0 start.
Yet, as has been the trend throughout this series, Florida dominated the third period.
