Chatfield out for Hurricanes' loss in Game 1 of Eastern final against Panthers

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Chatfield out for Hurricanes' loss in Game 1 of Eastern final against Panthers

2025-05-21 13:19 Last Updated At：13:20

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield missed Tuesday's Game 1 loss of the Eastern Conference final against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

Chatfield — who typically works with Dmitry Orlov in Carolina's second pairing — missed last week's clinching game of the second-round series against the Washington Capitals with a lower-body injury. He had missed multiple practices before skating Tuesday morning, roughly 10 hours before the puck drop for the series opener against the Panthers.

Scott Morrow, a 22-year-old rising prospect, drew into the lineup in Chatfield's place in the 5-2 loss and finished at minus-3.

“It was a tough spot to throw him in,” coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Morrow.

Brind'Amour had said Carolina was “still debating” whether Chatfield would play after the morning skate. He had said Monday that Chatfield would likely need to practice to return, then said Tuesday morning it was a “good sign at least that he's out there with us."

After the Game 1 loss, he was noncommittal on when Chatfield might return.

“I don't know, can't even tell you," Brind'Amour said. "I know he wants to play, but if he's not healthy enough he can't do it.”

Top defenseman prospect Alexander Nikishin played in Chatfield's absence in the closeout game against the Capitals, though Morrow got the call Tuesday.

The second-round pick for Carolina in 2021 had played in 14 regular-season games this year. He played in two playoff games in the American Hockey League playoffs for Carolina affiliate Chicago in April.

“I've played enough games now where I think I'm ready for this moment if it comes,” Morrow said of possibly making his NHL postseason debut.

The series is a rematch of the Eastern final from two years ago, when the Panthers sweept with four one-goal wins — one coming in four overtimes.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

In their words: Survivors and others talk about fatal Swiss Alpine bar fire

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — In the aftermath of a fire inside a Swiss Alpine bar that killed 40 people celebrating the new year, survivors, friends and family members, the region’s top authorities and even Pope Leo have spoken to the public in remarks in French, Italian, German and English, reflecting the tradition of Swiss multilingualism.

Another 119 people were injured in the blaze early Thursday as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said. It was one of the deadliest tragedies in Switzerland’s history.

Investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire when they came too close to the ceiling of the crowded bar.

Here’s a look at what people said in the wake of the disaster:

— “I’m looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere,” Laetitia Brodard told reporters Friday in Crans-Montana as she searched for her son, 16-year-old Arthur. “I want to know, where is my child, and be by his side. Wherever that may be, be it in the intensive care unit or the morgue.”

— “We were bringing people out, people were collapsing. We were doing everything we could to save them, we helped as many as we could. We saw people screaming, running,” Marc-Antoine Chavanon, 14, told The Associated Press in Crans-Montana on Friday, recounting how he rushed to the bar to help the injured. “There was one of our friends: She was struggling to get out, she was all burned. You can’t imagine the pain I saw.”

— “It was hard to live through for everyone. Also probably because everyone was asking themselves, ‘Was my child, my cousin, someone from the region at this party?’” Eric Bonvin, general director of the regional hospital in Sion that took in dozens of injured people, told AP on Friday. “This place was very well known as somewhere to celebrate the new year,” Bonvin said. “Also, seeing young people arrive — that’s always traumatic.”

— “I have seen horror, and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation and rushed to the bar to help first responders, told France's TF1 television.

—“You will understand that the priority today is truly placed on identification, in order to allow the families to begin their mourning,” Beatrice Pilloud, the Valais region's attorney general, told reporters Friday during a news conference in Sion.

Pope Leo said in a telegram Friday to the bishop of Sion that he " wishes to express his compassion and concern to the relatives of the victims. He prays that the Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

— “We have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say of very strong solidarity in the moment,” Cantonal head of government Mathias Reynard told RTS radio Friday. "In the first minutes it was citizens — and in large part young people — who saved lives with their courage.”

— “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help," Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in the position that changes hands annually, told reporters Thursday.