The Florida Panthers face the Carolina Hurricanes in Game One of the Eastern Conference Final. The Panthers were the final team to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference but upset the Presidents' Trophy-winning Boston Bruins and then upset the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Hurricanes won the Metropolitan Division and reached the conference final by defeating the New York Islanders in six games and the New Jersey Devils in five. The Panthers look to pull off the upset while the Hurricanes look to win on their home ice and with both teams hoping to reach the Stanley Cup Final for only the second time in franchise history, Game One looks to be a great one.
The Panthers have reached the Eastern Conference Final with their offense carrying them, scoring 40 goals in the first two rounds. Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, and Aleksander Barkov have scored 12 goals and 25 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has also been great. Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, and Anton Lundell have combined for 11 goals and 12 assists while defensemen Brandon Montour and Gustav Forsling have added eight goals and six assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has been great but the defense has struggled, allowing 37 goals in the playoffs thus far. Montour, Forsling, and Aaron Ekblad have led the top two pairings but the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net at will. The bright spot has been the play of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky who has a .918 save percentage and a 2.82 goals-agains t average on 330 shots with 5.2 goals saved above average.