The defending Stanley Cup champions, who defeated the Edmonton Oilers in seven games last season, will play either the Oilers or the Dallas Stars. Edmonton leads that best-of-7 series 3-1 with Game 5 in Dallas on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“We didn’t come here to win the Eastern Conference,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “I’m not saying anything bad about it, but we got where we wanted; we’re in the Final once again, and we want to win the Stanley Cup just like any other team.
“We’re happy with what we achieved, and the way we achieved it was tough. Carolina played so well. The way we managed to win this game is for sure one that you’ll remember.”
Carter Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 4-3 lead at 12:21 of the third period. Barkov made a backhand pass across the crease to Verhaeghe, who scored at the right post. Barkov circled the net and held off Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov before slipping the puck around Hurricanes forward Eric Robinson.
“He took on one guy, then two guys and then gave the puck to me with a pretty open net,” Verhaeghe said. “So, it was an unbelievable play by ‘Barkie’ at a critical point.”
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