Panthers, Stars Take Game One Of Their Respective Series

The Conference Finals are underway in the Stanley Cup Playoffs! A rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals between the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers highlights the West, and a rematch of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals between the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers highlights the East.

Panthers @ Hurricanes Game 1: FLA wins 5-2

Coming off their 6-1 Game 7 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Florida Panthers came out buzzing in the first period against the Canes.

A roughing penalty on Carolina's Sebastian Aho set up Florida's Carter Verhaeghe for his fifth goal of the playoffs.

Great puck movement by Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov allowed Verhaeghe to find open ice in front of goaltender Frederik Andersen, where he corralled a pass from Barkov and roofed it off his backhand, beating Andersen high over his left shoulder.

Halfway through the first, Florida's Aaron Ekblad scored his third of the playoffs to give the Cats an early 2-0 lead. The goal came after Carolina's Jordan Staal turned the puck over to Evan Rodrigues. Rodrigues skated the puck around the net and found Ekblad at the right circle, where he fired it past Andersen’s glove.

Carolina made it a 2-1 game at the end of the first after a controversial goal from Sebastian Aho. With 20 seconds remaining in the opening frame, the Hurricanes generated a rush in the offensive zone where Seth Jarvis passed the puck to Aho, who was skating through the slot.

The puck was out of reach for Aho, and it appeared he kicked it with his feet to redirect it into the goal. After video review, the officials decided it was not a distinct kicking motion and ruled it a good goal.

The Panthers were unfazed. Just three minutes into the second period, a beautiful backhand pass from Niko Mikkola found AJ Greer on the back door for an easy tap-in goal that made it 3-1 Panthers.

Florida added to their lead in the third with a power-play goal from Sam Bennett and an even-strength goal from Eetu Luostarinen, stretching the score to 5-1. Carolina added a power-play goal from Jackson Blake, but that was their last before the final horn.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves in the win, and the Panthers take an early 1-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final.

The Panthers and Hurricanes will play Game 2 tonight at 8:00 PM EST on TNT, TruTV, and HBO Max.

Oilers @ Stars: DAL wins 6-3

Just as they have done all playoffs long, the Dallas Stars came back from a two-goal deficit in the third period to win Game 1 of the West Finals.

Edmonton broke the ice 10 minutes into the game, as their leading playoff goal scorer, Leon Draisaitl, danced around a Stars defenseman at the blue line before maneuvering down to the faceoff circle, where he fired a shot past Jake Oettinger's blocker for the 1-0 lead.

Dallas' Tyler Seguin answered back five minutes later after a turnover by Draisaitl gave Seguin a clear-cut breakaway. His shot went low glove side to beat Stuart Skinner that tied the game 1-1.

The Oilers controlled the second period with two goals in two minutes from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard.

Nugent-Hopkins' fourth of the playoffs came on the power play after a pass from the goal line bounced around in the slot and found his stick for the 2-1 lead.

Bouchard notched his fifth of the postseason after taking a pass from Nugent-Hopkins and moving to the top of the right circle, where he beat Oettinger glove side to make it 3-1 Edmonton.

The Stars owned the third period, scoring five unanswered goals—three of them on the power play within the first six minutes.

Miro Heiskanen started the rally with his first of the playoffs on a wrist shot from the point. Mikael Granlund followed with a wrister that beat Skinner over his left shoulder to tie the game at three.

Matt Duchene gave Dallas the lead after a scramble in front steered the puck his way, and he hammered it home to make it 4-3.

With four minutes remaining, Seguin scored his second of the night by redirecting Sam Steel’s backhand shot, giving the Stars a two-goal cushion. Esa Lindell sealed the win with an empty-net goal, and Dallas claimed a 6-3 victory.

The Oilers and Stars will play Game 2 tomorrow night at 8:00 PM EST on ESPN and ESPN+.