Ave’s….Faves? At Least There Was One OT

I was mentally prepared for more overtime, and that turned out to be the case. At least it happened on a weekend night this time. Unfortunately, more negative moments stood out for me in this game, which is a first.

Moments that sound the siren:

• Jalen Chatfield opened the game with a goal for Carolina and his first career playoff goal! Career milestones are always exciting to watch, and when they happen in the playoffs or other significant events that makes them even more special.

Honorable mentions:

• Jack Drury almost had a goal for Carolina, and even though he was offsides, that was a nice shot. He just needed to stay behind the blue line and it would’ve been perfect. That and the Canes would’ve won.

Moments that go in the penalty box:

• No penalties being called against the Panthers because if you’re going to wrestle one dude for no reason then punch another, that should’ve been roughing. I wasn’t too happy when that happened.
• Poor puck handling from Carolina. Y’all, the puck is not a hot potato. If you’ve got it, stay with it, and too many turnovers were happening throughout the game between this and no one being nearby for a rebound.
• Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s hooking penalty in overtime, giving Florida a powerplay. That gave the Panthers an advantage, which led to their eventual win. The Canes have now lost 10 Eastern Conference Final games in a row, which isn’t a good look.

This is the first time I’ve been disappointed in the postseason and I will say that Carolina needs to step it up in their next games or they’re out of the playoffs. It doesn’t make sense to me that they’ve come this far and are playing so sloppily. I will say though, the Dallas Stars were down by a couple games against the Seattle Kraken in Round 2 before they found their momentum and won in Game 7. Maybe that’ll be the case for Carolina? We’ll see.