The Panthers are now one game away from returning to the Stanley Cup for the third year running after the 6-2 victory. It was a feisty affair at the Amerant Bank Arena, as there were many penalties, including 10-minute majors, that were dished out.
Florida took the lead with a little less than eight minutes left in the opening period. Niko Mikkola got the credit for the goal, as he played the puck across goal. However, it took a deflection off of Dmitri Orlov and into the net. It was a slightly unlucky goal to concede from a Hurricanes point of view, but they were behind nevertheless.
It took until the latter stages of the second for Carolina to tie things up. This came from a power play, where Brent Burns had a shot from distance. Sergei Bobrovsky was initially equal to it, but Logan Stankoven was in front of the net to put the rebound in to tie the game.
Through the first two periods, the game was rather close. The Predators edged the shot count 29-26, and both teams were creating chance. Even in the final frame, the hosts only had three more shots than their opponents (19-16). But, it was Florida's clinical nature that made the difference once again.
Just after killing a power play, the Hurricanes conceded again. Jesper Boqvist received the puck and skated down the middle, beating Orlov before putting it under Pyotr Kochetkov and in. The backhand finish made the crowd go loud in celebrating what proved to be the winning goal.
Five minutes later, it was 3-1. Connor Verhaeghe was key in the goal, as he won possession and set the Panthers on their way. A couple of passes later and Mikkola blasted his shot past Kochetkov to double his team's advantage.
From there, it went downhill for the Canes. Twice in the space of less than four minutes, Aleksander Barkov converted close-range shots, which put the game out of reach. With 9:23 left in the game, Brad Marchand finished off a two-on-one to ice the game for the home team.
Carolina have now lost their last 15 games in conference finals, and find themselves behind 3-0 in the series. It has not been paritcularly close either, as they have been outscored 16-4 so far. Game 4 is on Monday, with Florida now a game away from their third straight trip to the Stanley Cup.