The Florida Panthers look light years ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2025 Eastern Conference Final, holding a commanding 3–0 lead. The Cats are just one win away from punching their ticket to the NHL Stanley Cup Final, but they’re not letting go of their focus. Brad Marchand was quick to remind Matthew Tkachuk and the rest of the team of that mindset following their 6–2 triumph in Game 3.
The Panthers have now defeated the Hurricanes by three goals or more in every game of the Eastern Conference Final, dismantling one of the league’s top defensive systems and breaking it down on national television for the entire country to see.
The Panthers are showing no mercy to the Hurricanes, relentlessly attacking in every corner of the ice with little regard for their opponents’ physical well-being. As Tkachuk previously stated, “The Panthers wear teams down,” and it’s proving to be an unstoppable recipe in the NHL for the 2024 Stanley Cup champions, who are now chasing back-to-back titles.
Marchand wasn’t a part of last year’s success, but he witnessed it from afar in Boston as the Panthers eliminated his former team, the Bruins, in consecutive NHL seasons. Now, he is ready to join in on the celebrations down in South Florida, and he made that clear with a firm reminder to his teammates.
“You don’t think about [being up 3-0 in the series]. We’re prepared to go 7 here,” Marchand told reporters after the win in Game 3. “I think the biggest thing for this group is we’re really good at just focusing on what we need to do and staying in the moment and not looking ahead. You can’t start looking ahead.”
Unfazed
The Panthers had several stretches throughout the game where their dominance over the Hurricanes was on full display. They scored four goals in a span of just 4:11, but perhaps the defining moment came during a successful five-minute penalty kill—executed without Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Reinhart, two key contributors to their shorthanded units.
“Those are really important minutes for them, and also confidence in your depth,” head coach Paul Maurice stated, via NHL.com. “It’s going to happen again. If one of your killers take a penalty for two minutes, it doesn’t faze your bench.”
Getting hot at the right time
Game 3 against the Hurricanes hadn’t exactly been a masterclass from the Panthers—until the third period. That’s when Jesper Boqvist danced around Dmitry Orlov and buried the pivotal 2-1 goal, bursting the door wide open for the Cats. From there, Florida came out swinging and wasted no time putting the game to bed.
“We didn’t have a great start to the game,” Marchand admitted. “We weren’t bad in the first, but we weren’t great in the second. We were able to get back to the way we need to play to have success. Some guys made some big plays at the right time, led by [Barkov]. He was incredible out there tonight.”
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The Cats and Canes will meet again on Monday night, with Florida hoping to close out the series in four games and secure their place in the Stanley Cup Final, awaiting the victor from the Dallas-Edmonton series.