Everybody's scoring for Florida. Nobody's scoring for Carolina, and that sums up the East finals

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Everybody's scoring for Florida. Nobody's scoring for Carolina.

In simplest terms, that might be the best way to describe the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals between the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes. The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers lead the series 2-0, lead 10-2 in goals, have nine players with multiple points in the matchup so far to Carolina's one, and have eight players with at least one goal.

It has been a mismatch. And Carolina — a team that has now dropped 14 consecutive games in the conference finals round — knows Saturday night's Game 3 will be the biggest contest of its season.

“Sometimes it’s easier to recover from a game like that because there’s nothing good out of it," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said after Game 2, a 5-0 Florida romp on Thursday. “If you’re close, a play here or there makes a difference. There was nothing good on this game for us. So, we’re going to have to learn from it. But everybody has to be better.”

A lot better, or else.

Entering Friday, there were 18 players left in the Stanley Cup playoffs who have logged at least 10 points in the 2025 postseason — and eight of them play for the Panthers. Edmonton has four, while Dallas and Carolina each have three.

And the Panthers are getting production from every line, all over the lineup. Florida has 18 different players with one goal — the most in the NHL so far in these playoffs.

“The guys that are in and out of the lineup that haven't scored, they're getting chirped pretty hard,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Friday. “The watch on everybody who hasn't scored is on.”

That was tongue in cheek; the Panthers have made clear that they simply don't care who scores. Depth is a strength for Florida, and it may be tested again now given the uncertainty over Sam Reinhart's status.

Florida may be without Reinhart — a 67-goal scorer last season, including playoffs, the last of those being the winner in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final — on Saturday, depending on what the doctors say about his knee injury. Reinhart was knocked out of Game 2 against Carolina when the Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho went knee-to-knee with him in the first period.

Florida general manager Bill Zito was announced Friday as one of three finalists for the Jim Gregory Award, presented to the top GM in the NHL.

The other finalists: 2023 and 2024 winner Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars, and Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff.

Zito is a finalist for the fourth time and third in a row, after finishing third in the voting in 2021, 2023 and 2024.

Florida lost its last home game — Game 6 vs. Toronto in Round 2. The Panthers went 3-0 on the road trip that followed, winning a season-saving Game 7 at Toronto and then Games 1 and 2 at Carolina.

Combined score of those games: Florida 16, Opponents 3.

“I think we’re all a little bit at a loss,” Carolina forward Taylor Hall said. “But this is the playoffs and we're playing against the best teams right now.”

Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is 5-1 with a 1.01 goals-against average and .958 save percentage in his last six games.

Other than the 40-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury's 24-minute appearance for Minnesota in Round 1, Bobrovsky — who turns 37 in about four months — is the oldest goalie to see time in this year's playoffs.

There's another tie between the two. This run by Bobrovsky marks the first time any starting goalie has posted a GAA of 1.01 or less in a six-game span of a single postseason since Fleury in 2018, when he went 5-1-0 with a 1.00 GAA and save percentage of .967 in a stretch for Vegas.

“He’s incredible every night,” Panthers forward Sam Bennett said. “His composure in the net and his focus, game in, game out, he’s always dialed in, he makes the big save when he needs to. And that gives our team so much life, so much momentum. Yeah, we love Bobby.”

The Hurricanes are an NHL-best 7-0 in the playoffs when scoring at least three goals, 0-5 when scoring two goals or less.

That continues the trend from the regular season. The Hurricanes were 43-7-3 when scoring at least three goals, 5-27-2 when held to two or less.

When up 2-0 in a series, the Panthers have gone on to prevail every time — six chances, six series wins.

Carolina is facing a 2-0 deficit for the 12th time in its history. The Hurricanes have wound up losing nine of the previous 11 series after dropping the first two games of a matchup.

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

Carolina Hurricanes' Seth Jarvis (24) carries the puck in front of Florida Panthers' Aaron Ekblad (5) during the second period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Florida Panthers' Aleksander Barkov (16) chases the puck with Carolina Hurricanes' Jordan Staal, center, and Jordan Martinook (48) nearby during the first period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, back center, waits for the results of his coaches challenge during the second period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) blocks a shot of the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Florida Panthers' Carter Verhaeghe, center, celebrates his goal with Nate Schmidt (88) and Sam Bennett (9) during the first period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)