Same old sunshine, same old story for the Florida Panthers. Because once again, the road to the Stanley Cup is making its annual pit stop in the land of palm trees and panther roars. Just when it looked like things might slip through their claws, down by two goals after a shaky, headache-inducing first period, the Cats turned up the heat in the second like it was backyard BBQ season. Three rapid-fire goals later, they’d flipped the script on the Hurricanes, and even though Carolina tried to stir up some late-game drama, Florida held firm and shut that comeback dream down with a 5-3 win in Game 5. Boom; Prince of Wales Trophy, secured for the third season in a row. That’s not just dominance, that’s dynasty energy brewing in the swamp.

What made the win even sweeter for the Panthers was that it was their first ever multi-goal comeback to seal a series win, and they joined a rare club as only the fifth team in the past 30 years to pull off a clutch rally like that to punch a ticket to the Stanley Cup Final. Oh, and if that wasn’t already sparkly enough? The Florida Panthers just became the seventh team since the 1967-68 expansion to make it to three straight Finals, something only legends like the ’80s Islanders have pulled off since. But for Carolina? Whew. One brutal miscue and now they’re catching heat from every direction, especially from NHL analysts who aren’t holding back.

On Sportsnet’s studio segment during the second intermission of the game, experts broke down what they thought cost the Hurricanes their early 2-goal lead. Studio host Ron MacLean tossed the question, “What tipped everything?” And well, Elliotte Friedman came right out with it. “That penalty, I couldn’t believe it,” he said, referring to the moment the Canes’ Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s reckless challenge on Evan Rodrigues sent the former to the penalty box. Things went downhill fast after that, as Friedman noted, “Sixteen seconds later comes the first goal. And then 30 seconds after that comes the second goal.” To make things even worse, at 11:59 of the second period, Anton Lundell scored with a sleek backhand off a pass from Brad Marchand, wiping out Carolina’s momentum clean like a bad save file.

What surprised Friedman even more was that “Kotkaniemi got three shifts after that happened. For a combined 3-0-6.” The mood in the studio was all kinds of stunned. “That was, like, such a dumb thing to do when you have all the momentum,” Kelly Hrudey chipped in. “I even made a comment that he was out for his next shift, which really surprised me,” he added. With Coach Brind’Amour breathing fire behind the bench, it felt wild that he didn’t just bench him for good. After all, it wasn’t even the first time in this series that Kotkaniemi’s recklessness raised some eyebrows.

Back in Game 4, right ahead of the first intermission, the Finnish center skated at full speed with the hopes of slamming Florida’s Seth Jones onto the boards. But as Jones got a whiff of it and moved out of his way, Kotkaniemi gave his stick a free swing that came dangerously close to seriously injuring Jones.

That being said, Elliotte Friedman did understand why Rod Brind’Amour would want to stick with Kotkaniemi despite his lack of discipline. Even though Eetu Luostarinen had left the game with an injury in the first period, the Florida Panthers could not be underestimated. So Friedman wondered if it did not seem like a good idea to the Canes coach—as mad he might have been with Kotkaniemi—to take him out of a do-or-die game against a top team like the Panthers. But well, that didn’t work out in his favor either.

While Seth Jarvis evened things out at 8:30 of the third period, our Verhaeghe broke the 3-3 tie with a slick finish, and Bennett iced it with his 10th playoff goal. Barkov, Tkachuk, and Bobrovsky all came in clutch; total chaos in the best way. And while the analysts had their take on the Kotkaniemi incident, a slash from one of his teammates caught the eyes of fans.

Florida Panthers star gets no sympathy from fans

Game 4 was the long-overdue sigh of relief for the Carolina Hurricanes. After eating Ls for what felt like forever—15 straight Eastern Conference Final losses, to be exact—they finally cracked the code with a gritty win over the Panthers. But when Game 5 rolled around, with the Florida Panthers still holding that series lead, the tension was palpable. Right from puck drop, the hits were flying like it was a street brawl disguised as hockey, and one slash in particular sparked some interesting reactions.

So here’s the tea: Andrei Svechnikov, upset with how Aaron Ekblad hit his stick, decided to return the favor with an off-puck slash right to the back of the leg. “He chops him right in the back of the leg,” the announcer called out as Ekblad went down hard. And then chaos broke loose. Forsling and Ekblad instantly turned into enforcers, swarming Svechnikov like he’d stolen their lunch money. Fans expected boos or outrage, right? Nah. The internet had a different take.

Instead of wrapping Ekblad in sympathy, fans straight-up shrugged it off. NHL Watcher even chimed in with, “Wicked slash from Svechnikov to Ekblad. Man, these players have no respect for one another these days.” But the online vibes leaned more karma’s a boomerang than outrage. One fan put it real blunt: “Ekblad slashes, shoves, or hits someone after every whistle. If you can’t take it, don’t do it.” So yeah, the hockey world didn’t exactly cry foul; they just called it hockey justice.