The defending champion Florida Panthers withstood a late comeback attempt by the Carolina Hurricanes to become Eastern Conference champions and advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the third consecutive season.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winning goal with 7:39 remaining in the third period after Aleksander Barkov shed Dmitry Orlov in the corner and made an incredible cross-crease pass. Sam Bennett would add an empty-net goal with 54 seconds remaining to seal the game for the Panthers, 5-3.
"He's so elite," Verhaeghe said of Barkov during TNT's post-game coverage. "He beat a guy one-on-one, another guy came to him, and I was wide open. I can't believe he passed it. He's such a great player. It was such a great play by him. It was all him."
"That was a big time play," added Brad Marchand. "He's leading from the front this entire playoffs. It's incredible. I have so much more respect playing with him than playing against him."
The Panthers' victory came after a dud of a first period. The Hurricanes actually jumped up to a 2-0 lead in the first period after Carolina forward Sebastian Aho scored twice.
But Matthew Tkachuk and Evan Rodrigues responded with two goals in 30 seconds midway through the second period to tie the game. Anton Lundell added another tally to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead going into the second intermission.
Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis responded with his sixth goal of the postseason to tie the game 8:30 into the third period, but it just set up Verhaeghe and Barkov's heroics for Florida.
The Panthers took a team photo with the Prince of Wales Trophy on the ice at Carolina's Lenovo Arena after the game, but the superstitious players made sure not to touch the award. This comes after 2023 when Matthew Tkachuk and other players touched the trophy but the team ended up losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games during the championship series. The next year, the team avoided touching the Prince of Wales trophy and defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
"I think my first year here, it was a big accomplishment," Matthew Tkachuk said, "coming from where we were at the end of the regular season and then barely squeaking in. And then just three crazy rounds going on the way to winning it and it was a huge accomplishment for us. Last year was part of the journey and this year it is as well. It's kind of just all business for us. We're here for one reason. We're obviously very happy with being able to win it... but all business for us right now. We know what we're capable of and we're not going to celebrate until we get that."
Marchand, a longtime Boston Bruins player, returns to the Stanley Cup Final for the fourth time of his career. He first became a Cup champion with the Bruins in 2011, his first full year in the NHL. Marchand returned to the championship series in 2013 and 2019, losing to the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues respectively.
"It's kind of a bit of an odd feeling," Marchand said of advancing. "We're extremely excited to be going to the finals but the job's not done. It kinda feels like we ended any other series and there's still a huge job to do. We're looking ahead but definitely excited about the opportunity and taking in this moment for sure."
He added, "Definitely didn't expect to be here in this jersey but I'm very happy I am."
As Marchand left the ice, his teammates continued a tradition established earlier in the postseason and shot plastic rats at him.
"They better hurt like hell today," Marchand said.
On the losing end of the ice, the Hurricanes, after looking like world beaters against the Washington Capitals in the second round, lost the first three games to the Panthers and fell to 1-16 in their last 17 Eastern Conference Finals games.
The Panthers will play either the Edmonton Oilers or the Dallas Stars in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. Edmonton currently leads the Western Conference Final series three games to one.
"We're all pulling the rope together," Verhaeghe said of the team's success. "It's a team effort every night. A different line steps up every night it feels like. It's just sticking to our system."