One team is a win away from advancing to a third straight Stanley Cup Final. The other is about to once again come up short in a conference final. Drastic as that sounds, that is the reality facing the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes following the Panthers’ 6-2 win Saturday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers opened the series by scoring five goals in each game and exposing the Hurricanes in a way that hadn’t been done by another team this postseason. At first, it appeared that the Canes may have found a solution as they entered the third period tied at 1-1 … before the Panthers exploded for five straight goals to close out Game 3 in emphatic fashion.

How did both teams perform? Who is worth watching entering Game 4? And given that there’s a sweep in play, what could Monday mean for both teams, knowing that one of them could see their season come to an end? Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton answer those questions while reviewing what’s been a lopsided Eastern Conference finals.

Florida withstood an expected early push from Carolina and then settled swiftly into their own game. The Panthers failed to capitalize on their first period power-play chance, but made up for it by opening the scoring with a goal credited to Niko Mikkola (but that actually went off Dmitry Orlov) midway through the first. It was a deflating marker for Pyotr Kotchekov to cede right after a solid Hurricanes’ penalty kill and appeared to deflate Carolina’s confidence.

There was a potential to shift their momentum, though. Before the first period ended, Eetu Luostarinen finished a check sending Jackson Blake awkwardly into the boards; that surprisingly earned him a five-minute penalty and game misconduct — putting the Panthers down two of their top forwards in Luostarinen and the already-absent Sam Reinhart. Florida didn’t let the lengthy man advantage hurt their momentum, either; the Panthers killed it off and actually matched Carolina’s shot total while shorthanded.

While the game was tied 1-1 going into the third, Florida regained its lead with Jesper Boqvist undressing (to put it mildly) Orlov in shocking fashion. Boqvist entered the lineup to replace Reinhart, and it was the type of contribution Florida could only hope to see from its depth skater.

It was all Panthers from there with goals from Mikkola, Aleksander Barkov (profiting from a terrible turnover by Orlov), Evan Rodrigues and Brad Marchand to put Florida up 6-1 halfway through the third, and pressing Carolina deeper onto the ropes going into an elimination Game 4. Florida will be wondering about Mikkola’s status ahead of that tilt given how he left in the third period on Saturday after slamming into the end boards. But the Cats can’t be too frustrated given how the result turned out in their favor on Saturday. — Kristen Shilton

Unofficial Canadian Poet Laureate Avril Lavigne once posed one of more philosophical questions of her generation by asking: Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?

Everything the Hurricanes did through the first two periods of Game 3 created the belief that they could potentially stick with the Panthers. Only to then fall apart in the third period. Again.

There are numerous reasons why losing Game 3 is so damning for the Hurricanes. What might be the most prominent and prevalent is there might not be anything else they can do at this stage. On one hand, we’ve seen the Panthers take a 3-0 series lead only to be pushed to a Game 7 in a playoff series — this was the case in last year’s Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers.

But through three games of this series? The Hurricanes have switched goaltenders, adjusted their lineups, sought out other alterations within their structure and it still resulted in them losing by a gigantic margin while once again falling pray to being on the other end of a big period. — Ryan S. Clark

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Three Stars of Game 3

Mikkola has had quite a series. The defensemen has broken up plays, taken command off the rush and created quality scoring chances. He had two goals in Game 3, his first career multi-goal playoff game, and the fourth multi-goal playoff game in Panthers franchise history.

Two goals and a helper for the Cats’ captain in this one. It was his 20th career multi-point playoff game, which is the most in Panthers franchise history.

3. The Panthers’ third period

The Panthers unloaded in the final frame, scoring five goals to run away with Game 3 by a final score of 6-2. Five tucks is the most in any period in a playoff game in franchise history. The Hurricanes have now lost 15 straight conference final games since they won the Stanley Cup in 2006. — Arda Öcal

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Players to watch in Game 4

There’s no question Florida’s netminder has been building a Conn Smythe case with his excellent play in this postseason. However, Bobrovsky hasn’t been at his most dominant in (initial) closeout games during the playoffs. He made 26 saves for an .897 save percentage in Florida’s Game 5 win over Tampa Bay to send the Lightning home, and made just 15 stops (.882 SV%) in Florida’s Game 6 loss to Toronto in the second round, when the Panthers had a chance to advance.

Now, Bobrovsky was practically impenetrable in Game 7 of that series as the Leafs imploded, but it’s fair to wonder what version of Bobrovsky the Panthers get in Game 4.

When Florida had an opportunity to close out Edmonton in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final last spring, Bobrovsky turned in his worst showing of the playoffs, with five goals allowed on 11 shots that saw him chased from the net in an 8-1 thumping. Florida has put itself in a good position here with multiple chances to send Carolina home — but it wouldn’t be nice for them to do it sooner than later? Bobrovsky at his best will help Florida do just that. — Shilton

Benching Frederik Andersen was done with the intention that Kochetkov could give the Hurricanes a stronger chance to win. And through two periods, it appeared as if that could be the case, because he was receiving the necessary support from the Hurricanes’ defensive structure, something that had been an issue in the first two games.

But the Panthers exploding for five consecutive goals in the third period scrapped those plans. That now means the Hurricanes have allowed 16 goals through three games. It’s a contrast compared to the first two rounds; they relented 18 total in 10 games against the Devils and Capitals in the first two rounds.

But it also reinforces the rather stark reality that their next game could be their last this postseason. Kochetkov’s first two periods of Game 3 provided a level of consistency they’ve struggled to find at times. Could it be possible they find something from the opening two-thirds of Game 3, and use parlay it into a different outcome in Game 4? Or will it be game and season over instead? — Clark

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Big questions for Game 4

Is Florida ready to end this series?

The cliché exists for a reason — that fourth win of a playoff series is the hardest to get. Florida experienced that firsthand just last season, when they took a 3-0 lead over Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final, and then crisscrossed the continent over the next week as the Oilers clawed back to force a Game 7.

Did the Panthers learn their lesson on how to close an opponent out quickly? Florida did it to these very Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals two years ago with a tidy four-game sweep featuring many of the same elements we’ve seen from the Panthers so far in this round to date. But Florida appeared to have Edmonton well in hand 11 months ago, too.

Game 3 was arguably the Hurricanes’ best of the series. If they can channel some significant desperation into their game come Monday, how will Florida handle the pressure of an urgent club desperately trying not to be embarrassed with a 16th consecutive loss in a conference final situation? The Panthers can’t afford to look past what will be a dramatic incoming Game 4. — Shilton

Is this it for the Hurricanes — and what comes next if it is?

That in and of itself is a rather loaded question for several reasons, with the obvious being: Will Monday be their last game of the 2025 playoffs? And if it is, what could that mean for the franchise going forward?

The way the Hurricanes have been constructed has allowed them to become a perennial playoff team with a legitimate chance of reaching the conference finals. But that comes with the caveat that the Canes might not go any further than that.

It was a dilemma that the Panthers faced before making the changes that saw them not only win a Stanley Cup but now be a win away from a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final. Maybe it doesn’t come to that point for the Hurricanes. But if they allow more than five goals for a fourth straight game while struggling to score as well? It could lead to some difficult questions being asked this offseason in Raleigh. — Clark