RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The frustration bubbled over late in the second period, after the Carolina Hurricanes' latest rush failed to get off a shot while trailing big against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
“Shoot the puck! Shoot the puck!" the pleading chants began before returning for a second stint minutes later, a departure for a venue known for rowdy chaotic zeal building a significant home-ice advantage.
The Hurricanes hadn't forgotten being swept out of the Eastern Conference final two years ago by the Panthers in four one-goal losses. This was supposed to be different. Instead, they're right back in a dire situation — only worse this time — against the Panthers after again losing the first two conference-final games at home.
And that has turned a losing streak that was once merely a curious footnote into a growing weight with each passing game.
“I think we're all a little bit at a loss,” Carolina forward Taylor Hall said.
The 5-0 loss in Game 2 marked Carolina's 14th straight loss in a conference final, going back to sweeps in 2009, 2019 and the ‘23 round with the Panthers. The past 10 have come during this current iteration that has won at least one postseason series for seven straight seasons. Parse it further, and the first four came in '19 as a young team happy to be back in the postseason after missing the playoffs for nine straight years before falling to favored Boston.
The past six though? All against the Panthers, with measuring-stick margins getting larger along with the potential for self-doubt as the series shifts south for Games 3 and 4.
“This game is mental,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. "I mean, it's all about the brain and your focus and the thoughts that can creep in. It's got to be the thoughts we've been thinking all year, and that's playing our game and focusing on our shifts and our battles and doing what we do.
“When you let those thoughts like that come in, it never looks good. I think we've got to believe in the group and what we have and what we've done all year, and go steal one in Game 3.”
Does he worry those thoughts could creep into the locker room?
“No, I think tonight was obviously not great,” Staal said, “but we're going to have to wash it and move on and own a crappy game.”
Carolina's last conference-final win was Game 7 in 2006 against Buffalo in the franchise's lone Cup title run, with Rod Brind'Amour being the captain who scored the third-period winner against the Sabres. Now he's coaching a team struggling for answers — any, really — after a 5-2 loss in Game 1 on Tuesday and a Game 2 that got away about the time Florida's Gustav Forsling scored 77 seconds after the puck drop.
“Obviously, we've got to just figure out how to win a period,” Brind'Amour said.
“We're not going to beat this team if we're not on the same page. And tonight for whatever the reason — I think the intentions were good, everyone's trying, ‘OK, I'm going to do this.’ But that's not how we do it. And it just backfired."
The formula for Carolina through two five-game playoff series, including against the conference's top-seeded Washington Capitals, remained as straightforward as ever. Use an aggressive forecheck to pressure opponents. Get into the offensive zone and stay there. Fire shots on net, chase rebounds and press the attack.
And oh yes, rely on a penalty kill that had been lights-out good in the playoffs.
Yet the Panthers have carried action with a deep and tested lineup, jumping to 2-0 and 3-0 first-period leads. They've scored four times on the power play, double what Carolina allowed as the postseason's best kill (28 of 30 with one short-handed goal) entering this series rematch.
Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk called Thursday’s start “unreal,” with Florida playing like it expected Carolina’s best punch after a Game 1 thumping. Only that never came, as the Hurricanes struggled to clear the puck or simply gave it away. The performance left Brind’Amour lamenting he “didn’t know what I was watching” in the first 20 minutes.
The closest thing to a highlight was Sebastian Aho's goal early in the second, one overturned on Florida's offsides review challenge.
Carolina managed three first-period shots, seven through two periods and finished with 17, the lowest of any regular-season or postseason game in Brind'Amour's seven seasons.
“It's tough to really describe what we need to do unless we play our best game or even close to it,” Hall said.
By the final minutes, there was another meager chant trying to take form.
“Canes in six! Canes in six!” a few fans yelled, trying to keep faith, before quickly fading.
Right now, anyway, the goal is to just get one.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Aaron Beard, The Associated Press
