RALEIGH — The Hurricanes built a two-goal lead, lost it and clawed back to tie the game in the third period.
It wasn’t enough.
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov wriggled free from Carolina defensemen Dmitry Orlov to set up Carter Verhaeghe’s go-ahead goal with 7:39 left to give Florida a 5-3 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final and end Carolina’s season.
“Their best player made an elite play,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
Hurricanes right wing Seth Jarvis ignited the Lenovo Center crowd when he turned a Carolina forecheck into a tying goal by flipping the puck over Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (20 saves) at 8:30 of the third period.
But Barkov quieted the building with an unreal individual effort, shaking off Orlov below the goal line and dishing the puck across to Verhaeghe, who roofed a shot over a sprawling Frederik Andersen (17 saves) for his 12th game-winning playoff goal of the past four seasons and third career series-clinching goal to restore Florida’s lead at 4-3.
The Hurricanes had an opportunity to tie the game with a late power play, but Andrei Svechnikov’s chance in the slot was high, and Sebastian Aho’s bid on the rebound slid behind Bobrovsky but wide. Carolina finished the night 0 for 6 on the power play.
“You’d like to see a power play go tonight there, and they got one and we didn’t get any,” Aho said.
Florida’s power play goal in the second period started a three-goals-in-4½-minutes burst for the Panthers that erased the Hurricanes’ 2-0 lead — both Aho goals — and put the defending champions back in the driver’s seat.
First, with Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the box for taking a holding penalty at the tail end of a Carolina power play. Florida winger Matthew Tkachuk redirected an Aaron Ekblad shot past Andersen to cut the lead in half at 7:23 of the second period.
“The game was going, I thought, we couldn’t have done much better,” Brind’Amour said. “And then we take an O zone penalty, and they score on that — little floater, nice tip. But it’s all of a sudden, that just kind of got them going — momentum.”
Thirty seconds later, Tkachuk was able to fend off a Jordan Martinook hit near the Panthers’ bench to get a pass to Evan Rodrigues entering the Carolina zone. Rodrigues passed to Sam Bennett and then beat Alexander Nikishin to the front of the net to direct in the return pass to tie the game.
Then at 11:59 of the second, Anton Lundell beat Aho to the front of the net off a faceoff win and tipped in a Brad Marchand pass to give Florida a 3-2 lead.
“You never want that to happen,” Jarvis said. “It was a tough four-minute stretch. I thought we responded well, but giving up three goals that quickly, it’s tough for any team to kind of come back from that.”
But the Hurricanes did, with Jarvis scoring his sixth goal of the season after Shayne Gostisbehere held the puck in at the blue line and Svechnikov forked the puck to him in front.
Then Barkov — who had been on the ice for all three of Carolina’s goals — put the Panthers on his back with the series-defining play.
In the first period, however, it looked like Aho would be the Finnish center leading his team to a win.
First, Aho stole Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling’s pass in the neutral zone and raced past him for a breakaway. Aho shot over the pad and under the glove of Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 at 4:39 of the game.
Aho then doubled the lead late in the opening period off another neutral zone steal.
Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola tried to pass the puck up the boards, but Jarvis deflected it. Aho again collected it, came up the right wing and snapped a shot between Mikkola’s legs and past Bobrovsky for a 2-0 lead with 66 seconds left in the first period.
The Panthers, however, still found a way to reach their third straight Stanley Cup final and will have a chance to defend their title against either Dallas or Edmonton.
“That’s a great hockey team,” Aho said. “One team has beat them the past three seasons, right? So we knew it was going to be a big task to try to beat him. And we truly believe that we have what it takes, but obviously we fell short yet again. So, yeah, really pissed off.”
Jarvis added, “It’s the hardest trophy to win. And when you’re feeling like this, you wish you could go back in time, but you can’t. Now you’ve got to sit on it for a whole summer.
Notes: Florida center Eetu Luostarinen was injured in the first period and did not play the final 40 minutes. … The Hurricanes outhit Florida 48-31, led by six each from Staal and Eric Robinson. … William Carrier was called for two penalties for the first time this season.
