Carter Verhaeghe scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and the Florida Panthers clinched their spot in the Stanley Cup Final with a 5-3 win against the host Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday.
Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who won the series 4-1 to earn their third straight appearance in the finals. Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves.
Sebastian Aho scored twice and Frederik Andersen made 17 saves for the Hurricanes.
Verhaeghe put Florida in front 4-3 at 12:21 of the third period. He took a pass through the crease from Aleksander Barkov and roofed it over Andersen.
Bennett scored an empty-net goal with 54 seconds remaining to provide the final score.
Seth Jarvis tied it at 3 at 8:30 of the third when he collected the puck in front of the net and lifted it over Bobrovsky’s blocker.
Down by two after one, the Panthers scored three unanswered goals to go ahead 3-2 in the second period.
Tkachuk got the rally started on the power play at 7:23 when he got his stick on Aaron Ekblad’s shot from above the slot and tipped it past Andersen’s glove to cut it to 2-1.
Evan Rodrigues tied it 30 seconds later. He drove to the net and redirected a feed from Bennett through the five-hole on Andersen.
Anton Lundell put Florida ahead 3-2 at 11:59 following a Carolina icing. After he won the draw, he went to the net and tipped Brad Marchand’s feed through the crease over Andersen’s left arm.
Aho capitalized on a turnover by Florida to give Carolina a 1-0 lead at 4:39 of the first period. He intercepted a pass by Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling in the neutral zone and took off on a breakaway, putting a wrist shot under Bobrovsky’s glove.
Aho put the Hurricanes up by a pair late at 18:54. He picked up the puck in the neutral zone and took it to the top of the right circle before wiring a snap shot past Bobrovsky blocker side.
Florida will the winner of the Edmonton-Dallas series, in which the Oilers lead 3-1 heading into Thursday night’s Game 5. The Panthers won the Cup over Edmonton last season in seven games.
