The 2025 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are in the home stretch. 16 teams entered the postseason, and now only four remain. The playoffs have been filled with action, drama, heart, and grit. 70 games have been played, with potentially 21 left to go (12 at the very least).<\/p>\n
The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers are one of the NHL\u2019s latest roaring rivalries. Ever since the teams met in the Eastern Conference Final two seasons ago, the on-ice hostility has not ceased. They do not like each other and have continuously shown that during play and after the whistle. It is expected that this series will see high intensity and physicality. Get ready for a wild ride, reader.<\/p>\n
The regular season saw three matches between the Hurricanes and Panthers, with Florida being the home side for two of those contests. The first games were back-to-backs within 26 hours and travel between the puck drops. It was a less-than-ideal situation for the Hurricanes, who were without their top goaltending tandem due to injury. Despite the circumstances, Carolina managed to hold on at home until the third period. The Panthers broke out of the tie with an even-strength goal, and when the Hurricanes finally caught a break and went onto the power play, Florida struck with a deflating shorthanded goal, which ultimately propeled them to victory.<\/p>\n
The next day in Sunrise, Florida, they were back at it again. The results were even worse for Carolina as they handed the Panthers\u2019 Spencer Knight<\/a> (it has been a long season) a shutout, while the Hurricanes\u2019 Spencer Martin<\/a> allowed five goals and Yaniv Perets<\/a> one. The Panthers took the home-and-home sweep, and the Hurricanes were left scrambling as they continued through a slump which lasted months as they dealt with injuries, illness, and drama.<\/p>\n Despite Carolina\u2019s skid, the Panthers weren\u2019t ready for them the day after New Year\u2019s. The Hurricanes took the early lead before the first minute, while the Panthers tied it in the second. However, the third period saw one of the strangest goals of the entire season come from the stick of Jaccob Slavin<\/a>. Jesperi Kotkaniemi<\/a> had ultimately crashed into Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a>\u2019s crease, while Matthew Tkachuk<\/a>, for whatever reason, held him within it, while appearing to hit him. The bizarre play was still alive, and Slavin sent the puck past the distracted Bobrovsky for the game-winning goal. After all was said and done, the Hurricanes took the game 3-1 after an empty netter from Martin Ne\u010das<\/a> (it has been a very<\/em> long season<\/a>).<\/p>\n Considering the extenuating circumstances surrounding the Hurricanes during the first two games, and the Panthers\u2019 bizarre moments in the third game, the sample size is ultimately too small to gather much from. Both teams have had significant changes since the trade deadline, and have not played since prior to their roster updates. The data from the regular season is just far too murky to truly rely upon to predict an outcome for this series.<\/p>\n In the regular season, the Panthers led the league in hits with a bone-rattling 2,280, an astounding 215 hit difference from the Vancouver Canucks, who were second in the metric. Furthermore, they currently lead the four teams going into the conference finals in hits, as well. Their physical edge has been their playoff calling card since 2023, when they cracked past the second round for the first time since the 1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Panthers have also taken to the other gritty side of the game, creating as much havoc around the net as possible and launching pucks at any given moment, and they have the stats to back it up with the second-highest Corsi<\/a> of remaining teams in the playoffs, with 56.87%<\/p>\n In the regular season, the Panthers led the league in shorthanded goals. However, in the playoffs, they have not yet notched one. Out of the four left in the playoffs, the Panthers lead in penalty minutes. Being able to reignite that penalty kill zest they had in the regular season could help them significantly.<\/p>\n Yes, this is the same key. Though what else could you expect when the head coach, Rod Brind’Amour<\/a>, spent the majority of his Carolina playing career coached under Florida\u2019s Paul Maurice. The coaching styles bear strong similarities to each other in terms of offensive zone domination and firing the puck when available. Continuous pressure on opponents has been the Hurricanes\u2019 key ingredient throughout their postseason campaign. With the highest Corsi in the playoffs, 58.78%, this continues to be one of their strongest factors on paper regarding this matchup.<\/p>\n It is all but certain that the Panthers will play heavy against the Hurricanes, and for Carolina, they will need to be sure to respond in kind to the physicality. The Hurricanes have not been known for being the most physical, ranking 30th in hits throughout the regular season. However, the playoffs have been a stark contrast to that. Though still ranking at the bottom of the final four teams, they have over 100 more hits than they did last postseason, with one game less now than then. Additionally, the Hurricanes match up well with an average of 40.2 hits per game compared to the Panthers\u2019 44.5.<\/p>\n Due to having more points in the regular season, the Hurricanes will have the edge when it comes to venue. The Hurricanes are notably difficult to play in their home arena. The Panthers were essentially split down the middle during the regular season in points for away games, while ranking in the top ten for home games. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes had 31 wins at home, tied first in home wins and third in home points.<\/p>\n Starting off your prop bets, we\u2019ll discuss Carolina. For potential firecrackers in this series, we would keep an eye on Andrei Svechnikov<\/a>, Jaccob Slavin, and Logan Stankoven<\/a>. Svechnikov has been phenomenal in the Hurricanes’ previous series this postseason. In Round One, he achieved a hat trick against the New Jersey Devils, and against the Washington Capitals, he notched the series-clinching goal. Meanwhile, Slavin has brought an offensive edge to the series to accompany his defensive excellence. He has scored a goal in both series, proving to come in clutch with some incredible twine-meeting shots. As for Logan Stankoven, he has been impressive with three goals and countless chances which nearly went in. His gritty play style will likely fit in well in this matchup.<\/p>\n As for Florida, Brad Marchand<\/a> is top of the list. His elite playmaking has benefited the Panthers well, proving to be one of their best trade deadline deals in a while. He is currently tied in first for Florida in both points and assists. Additionally, Aleksander Barkov<\/a> and Sam Bennett<\/a> have been taking care of business well for Florida.<\/p>\n Prediction: Carolina wins series 4-3<\/em><\/p>\n Curious how these teams got to the Conference Finals? Be sure to check out our recaps!<\/p>\n Main Photo: Rich Storry – Imagn Images<\/p>\n Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions, some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2025 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are in the home stretch. 16 teams entered the postseason, and now only four remain. The playoffs have been filled with action, drama, heart, and grit. 70 games have been played, with potentially 21 left to go (12 at the very least). The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5358,"featured_media":468924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6,4547,4548],"tags":[8133,2130,450,7297,6535,2052,6785,701,1066,2286],"class_list":["post-468845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hurricanes","category-panthers","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-2025-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-andrei-svechnikov","tag-brad-marchand","tag-carolina-hurricanes-analysis","tag-florida-panthers-analysis","tag-jaccob-slavin","tag-logan-stankoven","tag-matthew-tkachuk","tag-paul-maurice","tag-rod-brindamour"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5358"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468845"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468925,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468845\/revisions\/468925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Night That Goal<\/em> Happened<\/h3>\n
Keys to Florida Panthers Victory vs Carolina Hurricanes<\/h2>\n
Physicality and Pressure<\/h3>\n
Special Teams<\/h3>\n
Keys to Carolina Hurricanes Victory vs Florida Panthers<\/h2>\n
Pressure and Physicality<\/h3>\n
Home-Ice Advantage<\/h3>\n
Carolina Hurricanes vs Florida Panthers Prop Bets<\/h2>\n
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