Hurricanes tried to match Panthers’ style in Game 1, and it didn’t work

The Florida Panthers wasted no time getting ahead in the Eastern Conference Finals, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 Tuesday night and taking a 1-0 series lead.

The Panthers got out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period and never looked back, with the usual suspects of Carter Verhaeghe, Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett finding the scoresheet. Despite outshooting Florida 33-20, at no point did it feel like Carolina had control of the game.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL defenseman Colby Cohen discuss the Panthers’ Game 1 victory and what went wrong for the Hurricanes.

Tyler Yaremchuk: It was a disappointing night for the ‘Canes. I think a lot of people might look at the shots in this game and be like, “Whoa, the ‘Canes played good! They deserved to win!” They did not, and it was all Florida last night.

Colby Cohen: They tried to play Florida’s game and that never works. We talked about this on Morning Cuppa Hockey: if you look at the way these two teams achieve puck possession in the offensive zone, one team is as good at soft chipping and placing as any in the NHL, and that’s the Carolina Hurricanes.

The other team, the Panthers, they forecheck like a bunch of rabid animals. The way they come, their defense comes down the wall, they’re physical, they make you feel it every time. The Florida Panthers just impose their will, and they were opportunistic, and Carolina had a couple opportunities to score in that game, which they didn’t. Sergei Bobrovsky made a couple saves, and he erases plays you forget even happened.

Ultimately, right now, who’s stopping the Panthers? I know it’s one game, but it was on Carolina’s home ice. If I’m the Hurricanes, I’m not full-panic mode yet, but I’m certainly uncomfortable after watching that happen on home ice last night.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…