Recap: 'Mistakes' Cost Canes In Game 1 Loss

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Carolina Hurricanes suffered their first home loss of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Tuesday, falling 5-2 to the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.

GAME SUMMARY | BOX SCORE | PLAYOFF TICKETS | PLAYOFF HUB

Carolina came out firing on home ice, applying early pressure in search of the game's first goal. But after failing to find twine on a power play, the man-advantage pendulum swung the other way, and the Panthers got on the board first at 8:30. Fewer than four minutes later, the lead was two as Aaron Ekblad capitalized on a Canes turnover.

Rather than allowing frustration to set in, though, the Hurricanes continued to press and ultimately beat the buzzer with a last-minute goal. As the clock ticked down to 14.8 seconds remaining in the first, Sebastian Aho redirected Seth Jarvis' centering feed through the legs of Sergei Bobrovsky, giving the Canes their first goal and halving the deficit heading into the second period.

Despite picking up momentum from Aho's goal, Carolina soon found itself behind by a pair for the second time as the Panthers struck quickly in the middle frame. Two more Florida goals in the third opened up a 5-1 lead, rendering Jackson Blake's eventual late man-advantage marker little more than a moral victory for the home club's power play group.

Frederik Andersen stopped 15 of 20 shots in the loss, the first time this postseason he has allowed more than two goals in regulation.

Stats & Standouts

• Seth Jarvis notched two assists, stretching his point streak to a playoff career-best five games (2G, 5A).
• Andrei Svechnikov also picked up a helper to extend his streak to four games, matching his own career high in the postseason.
• Scott Morrow made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut on Tuesday, becoming the second player in franchise history to make his first postseason appearance in the Conference Final after Patrick Dwyer did so in 2009.
• Logan Stankoven joined Ville Leino as the second player in NHL history to appear in both the Eastern and the Western Conference Finals while under rookie status. A player loses rookie status once he completes a season with at least 25 regular-season games played; Stankoven appeared in just 24 with Dallas last season before logging 19 in their postseason run to the WCF.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour on the difference in Game 1...

“They got the two power-play goals, I think that’s really the difference in the game. You’ve got to kill those. You’ve got to give them credit. They get a chance, it’s in the net. That’s really what happened there. That’s really a great shot on the first one. The second one is off the post and in. They play a heavy, hard game, but they can score. It was two bad penalties that we took really, that we don’t need to take, that they end up scoring on. We’ve got to eliminate that. It takes a couple off the board there, maybe then the game’s a little different. I didn’t hate our game tonight. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to go back and forth. We had our opportunities. Early in the game too, we had a couple of opportunities that we didn’t capitalize, then it went a different direction.”

Jordan Staal offering his thoughts on the loss...

"I think there were some moments here and there on either side of the puck, and they buried their chances when they had them. It’s always nice to have a lead in this league and always feels better to be in the lead, but I think the game is still there. We have to be better, obviously, it wasn’t like we were great, but we have an opportunity here and we’re excited about the next challenge.”

Jordan Staal on the importance of capitalizing on opportunities while limiting unforced errors...

“There were looks. If you go over (our scoring) chances, I’m sure there were enough out there for us to win the game, it’s just - we gave them too many. I mean, my hiccup there in the corner and they put it in the back of the net and made us pay on my mistake there…it’s a good team that knows how to score goals and find ways to win games when you make mistakes. We’ve got to limit those mistakes and keep creating the chances that we had.”

Seth Jarvis echoing his captain's thoughts...

“I thought early, especially in the first period, we had a lot of chances. The power play’s got to execute earlier. They played a good game, but we know when we start to capitalize a little more, we’ll be right there. But sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.”

Shayne Gostisbehere on if the team can take anything into Game 2...

“You can definitely take some positives. We had our chances, Bob played really well. A couple more bounces and it could have been a different game. It’s really hard to chase these games at this time of year.”

What's Next?

• The Hurricanes will not practice on Wednesday. Game 2 of the series is set for Thursday night at Lenovo Center.
• Next Game: Thursday, May 22 | ECF Game 2 vs. Florida | 8:00 p.m. ET | Tickets | Parking