My goodness, talk about intense! Led by Sebastian Aho, who was otherworldly, the ‘Canes swarmed the Panthers for the first 25 minutes while very much resembling their namesake. For a time, it looked as though they’d succeed in forcing a Game 6…and possibly snatching the series away from the defending Stanley Cup champs.
However, I had the sense that while ‘Canes couldn’t play any better, the Panthers had more to give. Particularly rabble-rouser Matthew Tkachuk, who to my eye had been very ordinary to this point of the series.
On cue, Tkachuk helped win a board battle, made a bee-line for the front of the net, and deflected an Aaron Ekblad blast past Frederik Andersen for a power-play goal to make it 2-1.