Defending champion Panthers head back to Stanley Cup Final with 5-3 Game 5 win over Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The horn sounded to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, and the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the regining Cup champs.

“I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It's all business and we've got a bigger goal in mind.”

The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games Wednesday night with a 5-3 victory in the Eastern Conference final, pushing ahead for good when Carter Verhaeghe broke a tie off a feed from Aleksander Barkov with 7:39 left.

Florida beat the Hurricanes in the Eastern final for the second time in three seasons. The Panthers will face the winner of the Western final between Dallas and Edmonton, with the Oilers up 3-1 in that best-of-seven series to put them within a win of a rematch with Florida for the Cup.

Sam Bennett added an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left by skating down a loose puck straight out of the penalty box after Florida had held up against a critical late power play for the Hurricanes.

That capped a wild night that saw the Hurricanes jump to a 2-0 lead by capitalizing on giveaways, and Florida answer with three second-period goals, only to see Carolina's Seth Jarvis beat Bobrovsky midway through the third to tie it at 3.

“That was all the elements that make our sport great," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “They're all over us. And we’re serving up pizzas and we don't look like we should’ve made the playoffs, and then the next thing you know we look pretty good.”

When it was over, the Panthers posed for pictures on Carolina's home ice during the presentation of the Prince of Wales Trophy for the conference winner. Some Hurricanes fans remained defiant, offering scattered “Let's go, Oilers!” chants.

The angst is appropriate considering how Florida has now twice ended Carolina's push to its first Cup Final since winning the franchise's lone title in 2006 when now-coach Rod Brind'Amour was captain.

Florida had won the first three games of this series but lost 3-0 at home Monday night as the Hurricanes averted a second straight sweep against Florida. But by the final horn Wednesday, the Panthers had won all three games in Raleigh in the series, pushed their road winning streak in these playoffs to five games and earned an eighth postseason road win overall.

“They’re a great team and it’s obvious the last couple of years, they’re the standard, obviously,” Brind’Amour said. “I thought our guy battled really hard all series.”

Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell scored on consecutive shots during Florida’s second-period flurry — two of those coming in a 30-second span — while Bobrovsky finished with 20 saves.

Barkov’s assist on Verhaeghe’s winner also stood out as its own terrific individual effort. Florida’s captain was jostling with Carolina’s Dmitry Orlov in a battle near the boards on the left side when he turned toward the crease, stepped inside of Eric Robinson and sent the puck over to Verhaeghe for the finish that silenced a Hurricanes home crowd in full-throated roar after Jarvis’ tying score.

“He took on one guy, then two guys and then gave the puck to me with a pretty open net,” Verhaeghe said. “So it was an unbelievable play by Barky at a critical time.”

Sebastian Aho scored twice in the first period for Carolina, both on neutral-zone giveaways — the first being one from Gustav Forsling that hit Aho in stride for a a breakaway chance that ended up in the net. Aho added another off a giveaway from Niko Mikkola with little more than a minute left in the first for a 2-0 lead.

Carolina has won at least one postseason series in its current run of seven straight playoff appearances, though three have now ended in the Eastern final. Two of those had ended in sweeps in a losing conference-final losing streak that reached 15 games — dating to sweeps in 2009, 2019 and the 2023 first tilt with the Panthers — before Monday's Game 4 win.

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Florida Panthers center Evan Rodrigues (17) and Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov (7) battle for the puck during the third period of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Carolina Hurricanes center Seth Jarvis, center, celebrates his goal with right wing Andrei Svechnikov (37) and defenseman Dmitry Orlov, right, after he scored against the Florida Panthers during the third period of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) battles Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31), defenseman Dmitry Orlov (7) and defenseman Jaccob Slavin (74) during the second period of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Carolina Hurricanes center Seth Jarvis (24) crashes into Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) during the second period of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell (15) celebrates his goal with center Brad Marchand, top right, and left wing Jonah Gadjovich (12) while Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) and center Sebastian Aho (20) react during the second period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (C) and NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, right, pose with the Prince of Wales trophy at the end of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. They advance to the Stanley Cup finals. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Carolina Hurricanes left wing Taylor Hall (71) shoots against Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) during the first Period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) watches the puck against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) pokes the puck away from the stick of Carolina Hurricanes' Jesperi Kotkaniemi (82) during the second period of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' William Carrier (28) battles with Florida Panthers' Dmitry Kulikov (7) for the puck during the second period of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell (15) celebrates his goal with center Brad Marchand, top right, and left wing Jonah Gadjovich (12) while Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) and center Sebastian Aho (20) react during the second period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) deflects a shot on goal by Carolina Hurricanes left wing William Carrier (28) during the first period in Game 4 of of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) deflects 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 head coach Paul Maurice reacts during the third 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)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)