Hurricanes avoid another sweep, stave off elimination by beating Panthers 3-0 in Game 4

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — With their season on the line, the Carolina Hurricanes found a way to play their best hockey.

Frederik Andersen returned to the net and stopped 20 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, Logan Stankoven got the only goal Carolina needed and the Hurricanes won their first Eastern Conference finals game in nearly 20 years by beating the Florida Panthers 3-0 on Monday night.

Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal got empty-netters to seal it for the Hurricanes, who staved off elimination and cut Florida's lead in the series to 3-1. They had dropped 15 consecutive East finals games, getting swept in 2009, 2019 and 2023, then dropping the first three games of this matchup.

“We made hard plays and kept them off the good scoring chances,” Aho said.

And there was no sweep this time. The Hurricanes kept the Panthers’ offense completely bottled up for much of the game, limiting the reigning Stanley Cup champions to 12 shots through two periods.

“We were good all night,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “It’s how we need to play if we’re going to have a chance, and we gave ourselves a chance. That’s all you can ask.”

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for Florida, which played without the injured Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and A.J. Greer.

Game 5 is Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina. If Game 6 is needed, it’ll be back in Sunrise on Friday.

“Obviously, we wanted to win tonight,” Bobrovsky said. “But they played a good game, so it is what it is. We'll get ready for the next game.”

Stankoven gave Carolina its first lead of the series midway through the second period when he took a cross-ice diagonal pass from Alexander Nikishin at the blue line and skated in alone on Bobrovsky. He beat the Florida goalie over the right shoulder for the 1-0 lead, ending a drought that — depending on perspective — had lasted for either six games or two years.

“It all starts with him,” Stankoven said of Nikishin's pass. “Great play by him.”

It was Carolina’s first lead in an East finals game since the second period of Game 2 of the 2023 matchup against Florida. A total of 364 minutes, 53 seconds — the equivalent of more than six regulation games — had elapsed in East finals games for the Hurricanes since their last lead.

“Credit to them ... they were good,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

And the win was Carolina's first in an East finals game since beating Buffalo in Game 7 in 2006, which came on the Hurricanes' way to the Stanley Cup. The game-winning goal that night came from Brind'Amour.

The Hurricanes switched starting goalies again for Game 4, going back to Andersen. He started Games 1 and 2, then watched Game 3 when Carolina went with Pyotr Kochetkov. But Andersen was brilliant Monday, as Brind'Amour expected.

“There were some real tough shots that looked easy tonight,” Brind'Amour said. “That's when you know he's really on.”

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

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) and defenseman Brent Burns (8) celebrate at the end of the third period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals against the Florida Panthers, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) grabs a shot on goal during the third period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals against the Florida Panthers, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) reacts to a call against him during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) takes a break during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals against the Florida Panthers, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) deflects a shot on goal during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals against the Florida Panthers, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin (21) and Florida Panthers center Jesper Boqvist (70) go after the puck during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, center, rear, talks with players during the third period in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Friday, May 16, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

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)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski arrived for an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, direct from a dentist appointment.

The 63-year-old veteran human rights advocate was experiencing a return to daily life after more than four years behind bars in Belarus. He was suddenly released on Saturday.

Medical assistance in the penal colony where he served his 10-year sentence was very limited, he said in his first sit-down interview after release. There was only one option of treating dental problems behind bars — pulling teeth out, he said.

Bialiatski recalled how in the early hours of Saturday he was in an overcrowded prison cell in the Penal Colony no. 9 in eastern Belarus when suddenly he was ordered to pack his things. Blindfolded, he was driven somewhere: “They put a blindfold over my eyes. I was looking occasionally where we were headed, but only understood that we’re heading toward west.”

In Vilnius, he hugged his wife for the first time in years.

“When I crossed the border, it was as if I emerged from the bottom of the sea and onto the surface of the water. You have lots of air, sun, and back there you were in a completely different situation — under pressure,” he told the AP.

Bialiatski was one of 123 prisoners released by Belarus in exchange for the U.S. lifting sanctions imposed on the Belarusian potash sector, crucial for the country’s economy.

A close ally of Russia, Belarus has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Its authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by the West for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In an effort at a rapprochement with the West, Belarus has released hundreds of prisoners since July 2024.

Bialiatski won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 along with the prominent Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties. Awarded the prize while in jail awaiting trial, he was later convicted of smuggling and financing actions that violated the public order — charges widely denounced as politically motivated — and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The veteran advocate, who founded Belarus’ oldest and most prominent human rights group, Viasna, was imprisoned at a penal colony in Gorki in a facility notorious for beatings and hard labor.

He told AP that he wasn’t beaten behind bars — his status as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, perhaps, protected him from physical violence, he said.

But he said he went through much of what all political prisoners in Belarus go through: solitary confinement, arbitrary punishment for minor infractions, not being able to see your loved ones, rarely being able to receive letters.

“We can definitely talk about inhumane treatment, about creating conditions that violate your integrity and some kind of human dignity,” he said.

Bialiatski is concerned about two of his Viasna colleagues, Marfa Rabkova and Valiantsin Stefanovic, who remain imprisoned, and about all 1,110 political prisoners still behind bars, according to Viasna.

“Despite the fact that prisoners are being freed right now, new people regularly end up behind bars. Some kind of schizofrenia is taking place: with one hand, the authorities release Belarusian political prisoners, and with the other they take in more prisoners to trade, to maintain this abnormal situation in Belarus,” he said.

The advocate vows to continue to fight for the release of all political prisoners, adding: “There is no point in freeing old ones if you're taking in new ones.”

He intends to use his status as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate — of which he learned in prison and couldn't initially believe it — to help Belarusians “who chose freedom.”

“This prize was given not to me as a person, but to me as a representative of the Belarusian civil society, of the millions of Belarusians who expressed will and desire for democracy, for freedom, for human rights, for changing this stale situation in Belarus,” he told AP.

“And it was a signal to the Belarusian authorities, too, that it's time to change something in the life of the Belarusians.”

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, one of the Belarusian prisoners released on Saturday, smiles during an interview with the Associated Press in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, one of the Belarusian prisoners released on Saturday, gestures during an interview with the Associated Press in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, one of the Belarusian prisoners released on Saturday, gestures during an interview with the Associated Press in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, one of the Belarusian prisoners released on Saturday, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)