2023 Stanley Cup Playoff Eastern Conference Finals Preview

It started with 16. It is now down to 4 of the best teams in the NHL to decide the winner of the 2023 Stanley Cup. The hockey in this year’s playoffs has been phenomenal. Every game has been entertaining and I have to say that it is even more fun when a team that you’re rooting for is still in the mix. I can't say that these are the 4 teams that were expected to be in it at this point, but I think that makes things more exciting. I can't wait for this round to get started and tomorrow night, we will officially kick off the Conference Finals round with the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.

NHL

Florida Panthers (R1: def. BOS, 4-3; R2: def. TOR, 4-1) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (R1: def. NYI, 4-2; R2: def. NJD, 4-1)

The Florida Panthers weren’t on the radar of anyone and that was a terrible mistake. They have been excellent this postseason. You could argue that Boston had a better series in Round 1, but the Panthers outsmarted them and advanced. In Round 2, there was no doubt about it. They simply outmatched the Toronto Maple Leafs. I don’t think many people seriously thought that they would make it out of Round 1, let alone the Eastern Conference Finals. Matthew Tkachuk gets most of the spotlight and rightfully so. He has been exceptional in the playoffs with 16 points. Sergei Bobrovsky has also been clutch, especially in the series with the Leafs. He saved 94.3% of shots and only allowed 2 GPG. Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour both have a share of the goal lead for the Panthers with 6 in this year’s postseason. Reinhard secured the game-winning OT goal in Game 3. Nick Cousins ended the series in Game 5 with this OT goal, which was only his 2nd in the playoffs. Are the Florida Panthers the team of destiny? At this point it certainly feels like they could be, but things aren't getting any easier for them.

I had a feeling that the Carolina Hurricanes could be a matchup nightmare against the Devils. They play smothering defense and the goaltending has shown up throughout the playoffs. I was nervous if they had to face the Rangers, but I figured that they would get the job done against the Devils and they did. They had a hiccup in Game 4, but they took care of business in the next contest. When you look at the Canes, there isn't one guy that stands above the rest and that can be a very good thing. They play very well as a team and Coach Rod Brind’Amour has them playing great hockey. When watching the games, Brent Burns really stands out to me. He is always in the mix of things and is always trying to make a play. The same goes for Jaccob Slavin. They make sure the goalie doesn’t get overwhelmed with pucks fired at him and do a great job setting up the offense. Jesper Fast stepped things up in the series with 3 goals and 3 assists against the Devils and that is what you want to see from a guy getting 13 minutes of ice time. I would give my MVP to Jordan Martinook though. He tacked on 10 points in the last round assisting on 7 goals. He was one of the guys that I wanted to see step things up and did he ever. Martin Necas had 3 goals in the Devils series, but I still feel like he isn't the same player that he was in the regular season. I want to see him thrive. Hopefully he will look better against the Panthers. It also appears that Teuvo Teravainen will be back on the ice for this series, so that should be another added bonus for the Canes. As for goaltending. Aside from Game 4, Frederik Andersen looked awesome. He allowed 4 goals in Game 4, but in the rest of the 4 games, he only allowed 5. Stanley Cup teams have great goalie play and that is a strength for Carolina. However, I am concerned that their power play unit may not be quite good enough. Florida should give them plenty of chances though, because they are quite a physical team. The Hurricanes won the season series 2-1-0. They won the last 2 matchups putting up 10 goals combined against the Panthers

This series should be intense. Florida will force Carolina to get a little more physical and Carolina will not make things easy for the Panthers on the attack. The Panthers strength is their determination and ability to climb out of the hole, but I think Carolina will match that. I could see this series going either way, but since the start of the playoffs, nobody has been talking about the Hurricanes as a contender. They were always there but haven’t gotten any kind of publicity. I think Carolina will win the series pretty easily and I think the Panthers season of destiny will come to an end just short of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Series Prediction: Carolina in 5

Yacs