Defending champions Florida Panthers are headed back to the Stanley Cup Final after their 5-3 over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 at Lenovo Center on Wednesday.
Carter Verhaeghe broke a tie off a feed from Aleksander Barkov with 7:39 left, with Sam Bennett adding an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left. Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett each had a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves for the Panthers.
Panthers captain Barkov said after the game: “We didn’t come here to win the Eastern Conference. 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.”
The Panthers now head to their third straight Stanley Cup Final; they will face the winner of the Western final between Dallas and Edmonton, with the Oilers up 3-1 in that series.
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