We learned that lesson, avoided the trophy, and won
In the long arc of championship sport, dynasties are not declared — they are earned through repeated acts of resilience. On Wednesday night in Raleigh, the Florida Panthers overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3, claiming their third consecutive Eastern Conference title and a return to the Stanley Cup Final. What unfolds next is a question the game has always asked of its greatest teams: can excellence sustain itself, or does it inevitably yield to time and circumstance?
- Carolina struck first and hard, jumping to a 2-0 lead on home ice with the momentum of a recent win at their backs — for a moment, a Game 6 felt inevitable.
- Florida answered with three unanswered goals in the second period, silencing the Lenovo Center and seizing control of a series that had briefly felt in doubt.
- A Seth Jarvis goal with under twelve minutes left in the third tied the game at 3-3, threatening to unravel everything the Panthers had built.
- Captain Aleksander Barkov found Carter Verhaeghe with a perfect cross-crease pass, and Verhaeghe's 12th career postseason game-winner restored the lead for good.
- Sam Bennett's empty-netter closed the door, and the Panthers — hands conspicuously away from the Prince of Wales Trophy — punched their ticket to a third straight Stanley Cup Final.
The Florida Panthers are returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the third year running, but they made the journey uncomfortable before making it certain. Facing the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 on Wednesday night in Raleigh, Florida found themselves down 2-0 after the first period, staring at the possibility of a Game 6.
The second period changed everything. The Panthers scored three consecutive goals to flip the game entirely, quieting a crowd that had been riding the energy of Carolina's recent momentum. The Hurricanes had snapped a 15-game losing streak in Eastern Conference Finals play just days earlier, and the belief inside Lenovo Center was real — until it wasn't.
Carolina made one final push when Seth Jarvis tied the game at 3-3 midway through the third. But Florida's captain Aleksander Barkov answered almost immediately, threading a pass to Carter Verhaeghe, who beat Frederik Andersen to restore the lead. Verhaeghe, whose goal was his 12th career postseason game-winner, credited the team's composure. Sam Bennett's empty-net goal finished it.
What followed the final buzzer was as telling as the game itself. When the Prince of Wales Trophy was presented, not a single Panther touched it. The superstition traces back to 2023, when Florida handled the trophy after their first Finals appearance and lost to Vegas. Last year they kept their distance — and won the Cup. This year, they weren't about to forget the lesson.
The Panthers now await either Edmonton or Dallas, with the Oilers holding a 3-1 series lead heading into Game 5. Florida stands one championship away from back-to-back titles and the kind of legacy that redefines a franchise.
The Florida Panthers are heading back to the Stanley Cup Final for the third consecutive year, and they did it the hard way—clawing back from a two-goal hole to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final on Wednesday night in Raleigh.
The Hurricanes came out swinging. They had just won Game 4, finally breaking free from a brutal 15-game losing streak in Eastern Conference Finals matchups, and the momentum seemed to be theirs. Carolina jumped ahead 2-0 in the opening period, and for a moment it looked like they might force a Game 6. But the defending Stanley Cup champions had other ideas.
Florida's response came in the second period, when the Panthers scored three straight goals to flip the script entirely. The Lenovo Center, which had been roaring with hope, went quiet. By the time the period ended, the Panthers had seized control of the game and, more importantly, the series.
Carolina made one last push. With 11 and a half minutes remaining in the third period, Seth Jarvis beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game at 3-3, briefly breathing life back into the Hurricanes' comeback bid. But the moment didn't last. About four minutes later, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov fed a perfect pass across the crease to Carter Verhaeghe, who buried it past Frederik Andersen to put Florida back in front. Verhaeghe, who scored his 12th career postseason game-winning goal, later told TNT Sports that the team's strength came from staying locked in. "It's a team effort every night," he said. "It's just sticking to our system."
Sam Bennett sealed it with an empty-net goal, and the Panthers had their ticket punched to the Finals. They were presented with the Prince of Wales Trophy, the hardware awarded to the Eastern Conference champions, but something notable happened: nobody touched it. The players posed for photographs with the trophy sitting in front of them, hands kept deliberately away. It's a superstition rooted in hard experience. In 2023, after clinching their first Cup appearance since 1996, the Panthers touched the trophy and then lost to the Vegas Golden Knights. Last year, they learned that lesson, avoided the trophy, and went on to beat Edmonton to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. This year, they weren't taking any chances.
The Panthers will face either Edmonton or Dallas in the Finals. The Oilers lead their Western Conference Final series 3-1, with Game 5 scheduled for Thursday in Dallas. Florida is now positioned to pursue what would be genuine dynasty territory—a chance to win back-to-back Stanley Cups and cement themselves as one of hockey's great teams of this era.
Citas Notables
It's a team effort every night. It's just sticking to our system.— Carter Verhaeghe, Panthers forward
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does touching the Prince of Wales Trophy matter so much? It seems like a small thing.
It's not really about the trophy itself. It's about what happened the last time they touched it. In 2023, they did, and then lost to Vegas. That loss haunted them. So when they won last year, they didn't touch it, and they won the Cup. Now it's become this thing—a ritual that says we learned, we remember, we're not making that mistake again.
But they won the Cup last year. Doesn't that break the curse?
You'd think so. But superstitions don't work that way in sports. The players aren't thinking logically about probability. They're thinking: we did X, we lost. We didn't do X, we won. Why risk it? The trophy is just sitting there. It costs nothing to keep your hands off.
So this is their third straight Finals appearance. That's remarkable.
It is. Most teams never get to one. The Panthers have now been there three years running. They won last year, lost the year before. Now they're back with a chance to win consecutive Cups. That's the definition of a dynasty—sustained excellence, multiple championships.
What does it say about the state of hockey in Florida?
It says the Panthers have built something real. For decades, Florida was a place where hockey was supposed to struggle. But the Panthers have become the team to beat in the East. They're defending champions. They're the standard now.