Panthers beat Hurricanes, clin...

Carolina started Game 5 the way it played in Game 4. By the end of the first period, the Hurricanes led 2-0, giving fans at the Lenovo Center hope that their team might be capable of an epic comeback after falling behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven series.

The Florida Panthers slammed the door on that, crushing that hope with a three-goal flurry in the second period and a game-winner in the third period. The offensive blizzard put Florida ahead 3-2, and Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner late in the third period for the Panthers in their 5-3, Eastern Conference clinching effort in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday.

The Panthers are now headed to their fourth — and third consecutive — Stanley Cup Final, where they will face the winner of the Dallas-Edmonton series. The Oilers lead the Stars three games to one; if they win, it will clinch a rematch of last year’s seven-game Final.

“We know what we’re capable of,” Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk said in a post-game interview with TNT, “and we’re not going to celebrate until we get that.”

Like in Game 3, the Hurricanes got on the board first. Gustav Forsling turned the puck over, and Carolina center Sebastian Aho got a breakaway and beat Sergei Bobrovsky to open the scoring.

Aho gave the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead later in the first period, capitalizing on a turnover by Niko Mikkola and beating Bobrovsky with a wrist shot.

But after a poor first period, the floodgates opened for Florida in the second period. The Panthers got on the board for the first time since Game 3 with a Tkachuk power-play goal. The star forward tipped in a shot from Aaron Ekblad, getting the Panthers back in the game.

Thirty seconds later, Evan Rodrigues scored his first goal of the postseason and tied the game at two. Rodrigues is the 19th different goal scorer for Florida this postseason.

“I thought from that goal on, we took over,” Rodrigues said.

About four minutes later, veteran Brad Marchand fed a pass to Anton Lundell, who was stationed in front of Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen, and Lundell fed it into the top corner of the net.

“We’re comfortable in these situations,” Marchand said. “The guys in this room have been here in many different situations and been up and down. And when you’ve been through it before and you’ve gone all the way, you see the different ways that momentum swings can happen throughout a game and how you can take advantage of that. We knew, again, it was one shot that could be the difference and get us back in it..”