Panthers return to Cup Final thanks to keeping faith in Bobrovsky

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers are going to the Stanley Cup Final for a third consecutive season and will try to become the third team since 2017 to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

The Panthers advanced by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final at Lenovo Center on Wednesday to win the best-of-7 series.

Florida also defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the Eastern Conference First Round and the Toronto Maple Leafs in a seven-game series in the second round.

The Panthers are the ninth franchise in NHL history to make three consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances and the second in the past 40 years, joining the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Eastern Conference representative in the Cup Final from 2020-22.

Florida will face either the Edmonton Oilers or the Dallas Stars; the Oilers hold a 3-1 series lead against the Stars in the best-of-7 Western Conference Final, with Game 5 at American Airlines Center on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC). If the Panthers play the Oilers, it will be a rematch of last season's Stanley Cup Final, which would mark the second championship round rematch in the past 40 years and 11th in NHL history.

Florida got into the playoffs as the third-place team from the Atlantic Division, going 47-31-4 for 98 points during the regular season. It will open the Stanley Cup Final on the road because Dallas (106) and Edmonton (101) each had more regular-season points.

Here are some of the highlights for the Panthers on the road to the Stanley Cup Final:

BEST MOMENT: Center Aleksander Barkov made arguably the best play of the Eastern Conference Final to set up forward Carter Verhaeghe for the game-winning goal. Barkov got the puck in the right corner and carried it behind the net to the left corner. Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov was draped all over him, but Barkov still managed to dance free. He made an inside move on forward Eric Robinson to cut in around the left post and find space in the slot for a pass across to Verhaeghe, who was coming up from the goal line on the other side. In one motion, Verhaeghe whipped a shot high into the far corner of the net to give Florida a 4-3 lead at 12:21 of the third period. Center Sam Bennett added an empty-net goal at 19:06 for the 5-3 series-clinching final.

TURNING POINT: It's overtime in Game 3 of the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amerant Bank Arena on May 9. The Panthers are down 2-0 in the series. They had a 4-3 lead in Game 3 until defenseman Morgan Rielly scored at 10:56 of the third period. But forward Brad Marchand delivered, scoring the overtime winner at 15:27 with a shot from the left face-off circle that went in off Rielly to give Florida a 5-4 win, cutting Toronto's lead in the series to 2-1. It set the Panthers off on a hot streak with eight victories in 10 games heading into the Cup Final.

BEST MOVES MADE: Coach Paul Maurice had to do something after the first two games against the Maple Leafs. It wasn't going to be a goalie change, though Sergei Bobrovsky clearly struggled in those games, allowing nine goals on 50 shots. Maurice instead swapped out Florida's entire fourth line, removing Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm and Jesper Boqvist to insert Tomas Nosek, A.J. Greer and Jonah Gadjovich for Game 3. The move paid off in a big way and stayed intact until Game 4 against Carolina, when Greer couldn't play because of an injury. It was back together for Game 5 and likely will be at the start of the Cup Final, too.

BEST MOVES NOT MADE: Removing Bobrovsky likely wasn't even part of Maurice's thought process after Game 2 against Toronto, but the coach still deserves credit for not overthinking and sticking with Florida's obvious No. 1 goalie. Bobrovsky had an .820 save percentage in those two games, but he's a Stanley Cup champion goalie and going away from him at that point would have sent the absolute wrong message to the team. Maurice knew that and Bobrovsky clearly has delivered, once again, thanks to the coach's faith in him; he's 8-2 with a 1.57 goals-against average, .935 save percentage and two shutouts since.

SIGNATURE WIN (REGULAR SEASON): You have to go back to Oct. 8, opening night, when the Panthers raised their first Stanley Cup championship banner to the Amerant Bank Arena rafters. It was, shall we say, a banner night all around. The fans, as Maurice said after the game, "were wired and there was a great buzz in the building." Florida used the energy to get off to a fast start in what became a 6-4 win against the Boston Bruins. They led 4-1 in the first period with Bennett scoring twice, with forwards Sam Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen also getting on the board. Bobrovsky made 24 saves. Then, after the game, the Panthers announced the signing of Verhaeghe to an eight-year contract.

SIGNATURE WIN (PLAYOFFS): The Panthers left no doubt in Game 7 against the Maple Leafs on May 18, coming off a 2-0 loss at home in Game 6 and having to travel back to Toronto. The game was scoreless after the first period, but defenseman Seth Jones, center Anton Lundell and forward Jonah Gadjovich each scored in a span of 6:24 to give Florida a 3-0 lead before 10 minutes elapsed in the second period. Center Max Domi gave the Maple Leafs a short-lived spark by scoring 2:07 into the third period, but Luostarinen answered 47 seconds later to make it 4-1. Reinhart scored to make it 5-1 at 9:24 and Marchand capped the 6-1 win with an empty-net goal at 16:57. It was a textbook example of the dominating game the Panthers are capable of, with six different goal-scorers and nine players with at least a point, including three each for Marchand and Luostarinen. Bobrovsky made 19 saves.

MVP: The Panthers have 19 skaters with at least one goal this postseason, led by Bennett's 10, and 10 skaters with at least 11 points in what has been an all-in effort. But Bobrovsky is standing on his own in Florida's net and is the Panthers' clear frontrunner for the Conn Smythe Trophy, voted as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Bobrovsky is 12-5 with a 2.11 GAA, .912 save percentage and three shutouts and is on pace for a better postseason than he had last year, when he went 16-8 with a 2.32 GAA, .906 save percentage and two shutouts.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: That Florida has goals from 19 different skaters in the playoffs is near historic on its own merit; only eight teams in NHL history have had more unique goal-scorers in a playoff year. But what's maybe even more impressive is seven of those skaters are defensemen who have accounted for 15 goals in 17 games. The Panthers got 37 goals from defensemen in 82 regular season games. Their seven defensemen with goals matches the most by a team in a single postseason, a record they now share with the 1987 Oilers, 1988 Calgary Flames, 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins, 1994 Washington Capitals, 2019 Bruins and 2021 Vegas Golden Knights.