It's A Cat-Trick! Florida Panthers Head To Third Straight Stanley Cup Final

The Florida Panthers are off to their third straight Stanley Cup Final after finishing off the Carolina Hurricanes in five games.

Game 5 started in Carolina's favor, as forward Sebastian Aho scored two first-period goals on Sergei Bobrovsky. Aho's first came off a turnover from Florida's Gustav Forsling, resulting in a clear-cut breakaway. He sniped it five-hole for an early 1–0 lead.

His second came in the final minute of the opening frame. A seemingly harmless shot from the top of the left circle trickled through Bobrovsky’s right arm and into the net. Carolina carried a 2–0 lead into the second period.

Florida gained momentum seven minutes into the second after Carolina’s Jesperi Kotkaniemi was sent to the penalty box for holding. It took just 16 seconds for the Panthers to capitalize on the power play, as a shot from Aaron Ekblad was redirected past Frederik Andersen’s shoulder by Matthew Tkachuk.

Thirty seconds later, a give-and-go between Florida's Sam Bennett and Evan Rodrigues ended with Rodrigues beating Andersen through the five-hole to tie the game at two.

Florida added a third second-period goal after a faceoff win by Anton Lundell led to Brad Marchand gaining control of the puck. With Lundell cutting toward the net, Marchand threaded a pass through Carolina defenders onto Lundell’s stick, and he tapped it home for the lead.

Carolina got the home crowd back into it eight minutes into the third, when Seth Jarvis corralled a loose puck in the offensive zone and went top shelf on Bobrovsky to tie the game 3–3.

With less than ten minutes left in regulation, Florida turned to its captain to get the job done. Aleksander Barkov gained entry into Carolina’s zone and did what he does best.

Protecting the puck along the boards, he circled behind the net and pulled up near the Zamboni doors. Powering his way toward the front, he delivered a perfect backhand pass to Carter Verhaeghe, who slammed it home to give the Panthers the late lead.

With two minutes remaining, a slashing penalty to Sam Bennett put Carolina on the power play. Desperate for a goal, head coach Rod Brind’Amour pulled Andersen for the extra attacker. Carolina had multiple chances to tie the game, but Florida’s defense—and their best penalty killer, Sergei Bobrovsky—stood tall and killed off the penalty.

As Bennett exited the box, the Panthers iced the puck into Carolina’s end. With no one near him, Bennett scored into the empty net to seal the deal and send the Panthers to their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearance.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Carolina, who is now 1–15 in their last 16 Conference Finals games dating back to 2009.

Florida now awaits the winner of the Edmonton-Dallas Western Conference Final. Edmonton leads the series 3–1 and has a chance to close it out tonight at 8:00 PM EST.

If Edmonton advances, it would mark the first Stanley Cup Final rematch since the 2008–2009 series between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins. Detroit beat Pittsburgh in six games to win in 2008, and the Penguins returned the favor in 2009, winning in seven.