This year’s Conference Finals kick off with the East side. Carolina and the Panthers rolled through their 2nd round opponents by defeating each of them in 5 games. Both hockey teams won in overtime and now are four wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final. The Cats defeated the Leafs to continue their Cinderella run while the Canes blew out New Jersey. I am certainly looking forward to this best of seven series between Paul Maurice and Rod Brind’Amour.
To say the least, I was simply dazzled by the Panthers performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs. I cannot give them enough praise and they deserve everything so far. They are mind blowing on the road and have won 6 of 7 away from Florida. The goaltending once again was excellent by Bobrovsky and he only averaged 2 goals allowed per game over the 5 game series. The Maple Leafs skaters had absolutely no answer for the Cats netminder. This is probably the best I’ve ever seen a team play on the road. They kept it close and really stifled Scotiabank Arena. Whenever the Maple Leafs fans made noise, it was more out of desperation because they didn’t have a lot to cheer about. The Panthers were on the backfoot for most of the series and they just kept on soaking the pressure, catching everything Toronto threw at them. When they got chances, Florida took them and got the job done. In this series, they need to replicate their formula to beat the Hurricanes. Carolina is a monster at PNC Arena and once again, they’ll have to keep it closed and low scoring. I expect this series to be a physical one but Florida must stay disciplined or else the Canes power play is going to run over them.
Against a red hot New Jersey Devils team, Carolina played miraculously. Something I noticed is that the Canes outscored the Devils 14-4 in the 2nd period. They were monstrous in the 2nd frame and had so much energy. Other than that wild Game 3, Frederik Anderson only allowed 5 goals in the other four games. The entire team contributed to them winning this series and the Canes had tremendous depth. To beat Florida, I want to see more speed from Carolina and keep Florida on their toes. Bobrovsky has been exceptional so far so the Canes have to crash the net and screen him. Even though the Panthers are the eight seed, Rod Brind’Amour’s team can’t underestimate this tremendous hockey team.
On paper, it might seem that the Hurricanes are the clear favorites but I think there is more to this series. My Game 1 prediction is that the Hurricanes will win 4-3. My series prediction is that the Panthers will win in 7 games. In Game 1, Carolina is going to be really jumpy and be full of energy. The Caniacs make a lot of noise so that’ll throw off Florida but over the length of the series, I feel like the Cats have the advantage. Their goalie is better right now and they have found ways to slow down high power teams like the Leafs and the Bruins. If Florida loses this series, I think it’ll be because of unnecessary penalties and silly mistakes. They have to play at even strength and force Carolina to work even harder. Game 1 can be watched on Thursday, May 18th at 8:00 PM EST from PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. The entire series will stream on TNT.
One of these two teams will reach the Stanley Cup Finals and play the winner of the Stars vs Golden Knights series. Can the Sunshine State pull off another incredible upset and knock off the Metropolitan division winners or will the Hurricanes swallow up Paul Maurice’s team?
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