RALEIGH — For the first time this postseason, the Hurricanes trail in a series.
The Florida Panthers scored twice on the power play — the same amount Carolina allowed in the first 10 of its postseason — and won the Eastern Conference final opener 5-2 Tuesday at Lenovo Center.
Carter Verhaeghe’s power play goal at 8:30 of the opening period gave Florida a lead it would never relinquish, and Sam Bennett’s long-range shot at 6:08 of the third period extinguished any chance of a Hurricanes comeback.
“They got the two power play goals, and I think that’s really the difference in the game,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I think we’ve got to kill those. … It was kind of two bad penalties we took, really, that we don’t need to take, that they end up scoring on. So you’ve got to eliminate that.”
With Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho in the box for roughing after an altercation with Anton Lundell, Panthers forward Verhaeghe lifted a backhand over the left shoulder of Frederik Andersen (15 saves) to give Florida a 1-0 lead at 8:30 of the opening period.
Then, with Florida holding a 3-1 lead in the third period, rookie defenseman Scott Morrow — making his NHL playoff debut — shot a puck over the glass to give the Panthers a man advantage.
Bennett’s point shot at 6:08 found the back of the net through a sea of bodies, giving Florida a 2-for-3 night on the power play and sending fans toward the exits as Carolina lost its 13th consecutive conference final game.
“It was a tough spot to throw him in,” Brind’Amour said of Morrow, who played in place of the injured Jalen Chatfield and became the first rookie in Hurricanes history to finish minus 3 in a playoff game. “Injuries — I’ve said it over and over — you lose key players, it’s hard to win, especially this time of year.”
The Hurricanes, steady and disciplined throughout their five-game series against the Devils and Capitals, looked out of sorts and rattled from the start. Aho’s first period penalty — which Brind’Amour called “the wrong call” — allowed Florida to get out to an early lead, and Shayne Gostisbehere let his frustration boil over in the third period when he purposefully shot a puck at Florida’s Brad Marchand after taking exception to a late hit.
“It was just heated,” Gostisbehere said. “I was pretty pissed off. He tried to take a run at me; I shot the puck at him. It is what it is and, you know, had a little tussle.”
After capitalizing on their first power play opportunity of the night, the Panthers doubled their lead by capitalizing on a Carolina mistake.
Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal turned the puck over in his zone, leading Evan Rodrigues to set up defenseman Aaron Ekblad for a shot through an inadvertent Morrow screen and past Andersen to make it 2-0.
“A hiccup there in the corner and they put it in the back of the net,” Staal said. “They made (us) pay on my mistake there and a couple other mistakes.”
The Hurricanes, however, responded in the waning moments of the opening period when Aho redirected the puck with his skate off a Seth Jarvis pass with under 16 seconds remaining in the first to cut the Panthers’ lead to 2-1.
But Carolina’s momentum was short-lived as A.J. Greer finished a pass from Niko Mikkola on the rush to push the Panthers’ lead to 3-1 at 3:33 of the middle frame.
After Bennett’s power play goal, Florida center Eetu Luostarinen, the team’s surprise leading scorer entering the series, scored with just over five minutes left to push the lead to 5-1. A Hurricanes power play goal by Jackson Blake at 16:19 of the third period was just window dressing as the Panthers erased Carolina’s home ice advantage and took a 1-0 series lead.
“It’s hard to win games in playoffs when you’re chasing them like that,” Gostisbehere said. “We definitely had our looks. … But I think for us, we’ve just got to stick to it. It’s right there. You could really see it.”
Notes: Morrow finished with three shots on goal and played 12:18. … Staal had a game-high nine hits. … Carolina won 60% of the faceoffs, led by an 11-for-15 night by Jack Roslovic. … Marchand was assessed 14 penalty minutes for his altercation with Gostisbehere. … Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves.
