• Associated Press

May 20, 2025, 11:18 PM ET

RALEIGH, N.C. —

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    Florida swept that one with four one-goal margins, including Game 1 in four overtimes. And just as before, the Panthers have immediately ripped home-ice advantage from a team that was 5-0 at home in these playoffs.

    Sebastian Aho tallied Carolina’s lone score when the outcome was in doubt, with Seth Jarvis‘ pass banging off Aho’s right skate to slide under Bobrovsky in the dying seconds of the first to make it 2-1. But Florida got Greer’s finish off a backhand feed from Niko Mikkola to beat Frederik Andersen to push the margin back to two goals early in the second.

    Andersen had been elite in the postseason, but found himself alone with Verhaeghe at the edge of the crease for a quick power-play goal that beat him to the upper right corner. He was later shielded by Brad Marchand on Bennett’s score, which fittingly ended the 15-minute stretch without a shot on goal.

    Those both came with the man advantage, a glaring stat against Carolina’s penalty kill that had been the postseason’s best by allowing two goals through two rounds.

    Jackson Blake scored a late goal for Carolina in a finish that included Marchand being tossed for a game-misconduct penalty — including being escorted off by an official while shouting back toward center ice — after a fight with Carolina’s Shayne Gostisbehere.

    The loss marked Carolina’s 13th straight in a conference final, going back being swept in 2009, 2019 and 2023.

    Game 2 is back at Carolina on Thursday night.