Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 36: Panthers explode in third period to take 3-0 series lead

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop exciting action in the NHL as we witness history in another team looking to win a championship. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop of everything that happened in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.

If you thought it was already bad for the Carolina Hurricanes, the Florida Panthers somehow made it even worse for them in Game 3. Not only did they blow out the Hurricanes again, it was a late blowout, so Carolina actually had a hope of winning this time around.

For starters, the Panthers were going to be without one of their top goal scorers in Sam Reinhart in the game, with Jesper Boqvist slotting into the lineup instead, so it looked like the odds were going to be slightly more in Carolina’s favour. The Hurricanes also made a lineup change, opting to start Pyotr Kochetkov after a couple of unsuccessful games from Frederik Andersen.

The goalie switch seemed to make an impact early on, as the game was much closer early on, and Kochetkov was making a couple of savvy saves. But, the Panthers were still the first team on the board, with Niko Mikkola scoring after banking the puck off of Dmitry Orlov and into the net.

However, the Hurricanes got a chance at changing the momentum later in the period when Eetu Luostarinen was ejected for boarding Jackson Blake, giving them a five-minute power play. Surely, this would turn around the series, right?

It didn’t. Carolina failed to score on that power play, but they did manage to score on a later power play to tie the game, courtesy of a marker from Logan Stankoven.

But that was as close as the Hurricanes were going to get in this game. Jesper Boqvist scored 89 seconds into the third to make it 2-1, five minutes later saw Mikkola and Aleksander Barkov scored 29 seconds apart to make it 4-1, and then Barkov and Brad Marchand scored 1:06 apart a few minutes after that. Suddenly, the game was 6-1 after the Panthers had their first five-goal period in the playoffs in franchise history.

Seth Jarvis scored just 24 seconds after that, but that was the only offense that Carolina could muster in the third, and the Panthers now find themselves with a 3-0 series lead after a 6-2 blowout win. Barkov finished the night with two goals and three points, while Boqvist had a goal and three points fresh out of the press box.