2023-05-25 07:49:25
NHL
The Florida Panthers are in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in their history after 27 years. Coach Paul Maurice’s team beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in the playoff semifinals of the North American National Hockey League (NHL) on Wednesday and decided the “best of seven” series by sweeping 4-0 itself.
Matthew Tkachuk scored with 4.9 seconds left to complete the return to the Stanley Cup Finals. For the 25-year-old forward it was the second goal of the night and the ninth goal of the play-offs. Previously, the home team had twice equalized after leading 2-0 and 3-2.
The Panthers, who were the last team to make the play-offs in the east, continue to turn out to be the favorites in the knockout games. In the first round they knocked out the outstanding team from the regular season with the Boston Bruins, in the quarterfinals they prevailed against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now the Florida franchise eliminated the second-best team in the regular season.
The Panthers had previously reached the NHL Finals series in 1996, losing four times to the Colorado Avalanche. This time they are likely to face the Vegas Golden Knights, who lead 3-1 against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Finals and can secure promotion in Dallas on Thursday.
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