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The first two games of the series were extremely close, and the first period of Game 3 certainly followed suit.
Panthers goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky was brilliant in the first period, making two key saves on sharp shots from Sebastian Aho and Jesper Fast. A few minutes later, the Russian goalkeeper was able to frustrate another Canes forward, this time Stefan Noesen, thanks to a stop by the mitt as his opponent had escaped.
Bobrovsky’s solid performance provided a dose of energy for his teammates, who managed to be threatening when shorthanded, getting more scoring chances and leaving nothing for the Hurricanes.
As they developed numerical superiority at the end of the first, the Panthers came up against Frederik Andersen, who, like his vis-à-vis, knew how to hold his team’s fort brilliantly.
On the return to second, it was without their captain Aleksander Barkov that the Panthers jumped on the ice. The Finn appeared to be injured in seemingly innocuous contact with Jack Drury along the ramp in the first period.
Barkov’s loss seemed to throw the hosts off balance early in the second period. Paul Maurice’s men still hadn’t fired a shot after the first eight minutes of play.
After a minor penalty to Brady Skjei for a stick on Anton Lundell, Sam Reinhart scored his seventh goal of the playoffs thanks to a nice shot from the slot. His teammate Matthew Tkachuk served him a nice pass for his 19th point.
The Hurricanes then took two more penalties, giving plenty of pace to their opponents. However, the visitors managed to close the door and deprive Florida of a two-goal lead.
But at five on five, Carolina was threatening. Rod Brind’Amour’s men had 20 shots on target after the first two periods, five more than the Panthers.
Notes before the game
THAT Carolina Hurricanes will try to win a first game in the Eastern Final tonight as Florida Panthers has a 2-0 series lead.
After two overtime losses at home, the Canes will surely want to play the same fate at Sunrise.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour confirmed it Frederik Andersen returns to the Hurricanes cage for Game 3. On the other hand, Sergey Bobrovsky will be the starter for Florida.
Carolina will have a tall order on the road to limit the Panthers, who are on fire. They have won nine of their last ten matches. Despite an impressive road record of eight wins and one loss, Florida is 2-3 at the BB&T Center.
Matthew Tkachuk is the Panthers leading scorer with 18 points and Carter Verhaeghe follows him with 14 points. Among the hurricanes it is Sebastian Aho who leads the charge with a harvest of 12 points.
