NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – May 25, 2025
The Panthers take a stranglehold on the Eastern Conference Final, plus the latest on Roope Hintz, Reilly Smith, Brendan Shanahan and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
PANTHERS TAKE 3-0 SERIES LEAD IN THE EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL
NHL.COM: The Florida Panthers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 6-2 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov (NHL Images).
Florida captain Aleksander Barkov tallied twice as his club scored five goals in the third period. Niko Mikkola also scored two goals and Jesper Boqvist had a goal and two assists. Logan Stankoven had a goal and an assist for Carolina.
Panthers forward Sam Reinhart missed this game with a lower-body injury suffered in Game 2. He’s listed as day-to-day. Forward Eetu Luostarinen was ejected for boarding Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake.
Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov got the start for the Hurricanes. Teammate Jesperi Kotkaniemi returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in Game 2.
The Panthers can finish this series with a win in Game 4 on Monday, May 26, at 8 pm ET.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Carolina made this interesting in the first two periods, keeping the game close and tying it in the second period after Florida took an early lead. However, they couldn’t contain the Panthers’ offense in the third and were quickly beaten down on five goals in just over nine minutes within the first half of the period.
This loss extended the Hurricanes’ losing skid in the Eastern Conference Final to 15 games since 2019. They’re on the verge of getting swept again if they cannot find a way to neutralize the Panthers’ aggressive forecheck.
ROTOWIRE: Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz remains uncertain for Game 3 of the Western Conference Final on Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers. Hintz suffered a lower-body injury in Game 2 when he was slashed on the leg by Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse.
TSN: Former Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan won’t be joining the New York Islanders. Pierre LeBrun reports the Isles interviewed Shanahan and had a good conversation, but decided he’s not a fit for them at this time.
VEGAS HOCKEY NOW: Reilly Smith hopes to remain with the Golden Knights. They reacquired him from the New York Rangers at the trade deadline. The 34-year-old winger can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, but he’s hoping the two sides can work something out.
TORONTO SUN: Lance Hornby reports the Maple Leafs will explore ways to enhance fan support for their home games. Keith Pelley, the CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, was thrilled with the fan engagement during the playoffs, but believes it could be louder and is looking at ways to address this.
Hornby blames it on “a few things, led by the Leafs’ corporate season ticket base that opens their wallets but closes their mouths during play, especially in the lower bowl.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Part of the problem is that the Leafs charge the league’s highest ticket prices ($260 per ticket on average). Their fan cost index of $444 (includes tickets, parking and concessions) is the second-highest.
That’s well out of the range of most Leafs fans, who end up watching their playoff games on big-screen television in Maple Leaf Square outside Scotiabank Arena. That’s where all the noise can be found.
To paraphrase what comedian George Burns used to say to his wife Gracie “it’s time to say goodnight, Rod.”
This series makes you wonder if Rantanen had this team, out-hustled, out-muscled, out-goalied and outscored 16-4 in 3 games, figured out a long time ago, and couldn’t wait to get out of Dodge. It certainly makes Toronto’s ability to stretch that series to 7 games look a lot more significant and also, perhaps, puts their two home-game lopsided losses by a combined 12-2 score in a more understanding light.
This is a DOMINANT team in every aspect of the game. In 15 playoff games so far they have outscored the opposition 61 to 33, and have forcefully squelched any attempts by the other teams to take control of the physical side of the game with emphasis.
And that’s without their leading goal-scorer and points producer Reinhart for the past 2 games (he went out around the 5 minute mark of Thursday’s game.
So far in the playoffs (15 games), the Panthers have had goals scored by 18 different players:
9 by Bennett
6 by Barkov
5 by Verhaeghe
4 each by Tkachuk, Marchand, Luostarinen, Reinhart, Lundell
3 each by Ekblad, Schmidt, Jones, Mikkola
2 each by Boqvist, Greer, Gadjovich
1 each by Kulikov, Forsling, Balinskis
Only Samoskovich, Sturm, Nosek and Rodrigues have failed to score, but the latter does have 10 assists.
To be fair, and so as not to suggest that the other teams still in the playoffs are not getting goals from as wide a roster spectrum as is Florida, here are similar stats for the other 3
Edmonton – 13gp: 17 players with 1 or more goals:
6 by Draisaitl. 5 each by Bouchard, Nugent-Hopkins, Connor Brown, Perry; 4 by Kane; 3 each by McDavid, Hyman, Henrique; 2 each by Nurse, Janmark; 1 each by Arvidsson, Podkolzin, Kulak, Walman, Frederic, Kapanen; zero by each of Klingberg, Jeff Skinner, Joshua Brown, Stecher, Emberson
Dallas – 15gp: 15 players with 1 or more goals:
9 by Rantanen; 5 each by Hintz, Stanlund; 4 each by Harley, Seguin, Johnston; 1 each by Steel, Duchene, Marchment, Heiskanen, Dadonov, Benn, Petrovic, Lindell, Blackwell; zero each by Lyubushkin, Ceci, Robertson, Back, Bourque, Bichsel
Carolina – 13gp: 15 players with 1 or more goals:
8 by Svechnikov, 5 by Jarvis, 4 each by Aho, Stankoven; 3 each by Gostisbehere, Blake; 2 each by Hall, Slavin; 1 each by Martinook, Rsolvic, Burns, Walker, Robinson, Staal; Chatfield; zero each by Kotkeniami; Orlov, Jankowski, Nikishin, Morrow, Carrier
(excuse any spelling errors)
And that applies to EVERY rink.
Sheesh – the above “And that applies to every rink” should have appeared below in my response to Howard about crowd noise
Another way of looking at their results so far is to compare cap hit totals for those players on each team with 1 or zero goals, from highest to lowest cost
Carolina – 13 players costing $41,511,667
(biggest tickets – Burns $8,000,000; Orlov $7,750,000; Kotkeniami $4,820,000; Walker $3,600,000; Martinook $3,050,000; Chatfield $3,000,000; Roslovic $2.900,000; Staal $2,900,000; Carrier $2,000,000
Dallas – 11 players costing 28,779,500
Biggest tickets: Robertson $7,750,000; Lindell $5,250,000; Lyubusahkin $3,250,000; Ceci $3,2500,000; Duchene $3,000,000; Staal $2,100,000
Edmonton – 11 players costing $22,312,556
Biggest tickers: Arvidsson $4,000,000; Walman $3,400,000; Jeff Skinner $3,000,000; Kulak $2,750,000; Frederic $2,300,000
Florida – 7 players costing $14,450,000
Biggest tickets: Forsling $5,750,000; Rodrigues $3,000,000 (but he does have 10 assists); Sturm $2,000,000; Kulikov $1,150,000
Now, I realize that the above is a mix of F and D and that some among the D are not there for their offense – but in 3 of the cases that ‘s a lot of cap money forked over for regular seasonal play and not see something more productive in the playoffs.
There’s been all this talk this past week of the Leafs continued playoff failures. And with good reason. But maybe the Canes lack of playoff success deserves a mention as well.
The Canes have built a tough physical team with offensive talent as well. The type of team built for the playoffs. Yet, they always seem to fall well short. They’ve been good enough to compete but not nearly good enough to win.
Obviously it’s not the goal of any team to merely compete but fall short of the Finals every year. Perhaps it’s time for the Canes to examine their roster and to make changes necessary to actually take the next step. Give credit to the Panthers of course but the Canes performance so far in the penultimate round has been nothing short of pathetic.
Howard, and Dallas if they lose this year.
They have lost in the WCF 2 straight years, and the Oil beat them again, it will 3 straight.
These are 2 really good teams so my guess is they tinker around the edges. The Canes seem to get knocked around by FLA and they can’t seem to get to the net against them. Last year Dallas got smoked on special teams, this year through 2 games they have been getting dominated 5 on 5 by the Oil. Plus the Oil are out hitting them by quite a bit too.
Panthers ……physical….checking…very hard to the puck …speed and scoring …Dmen always jumping into the play …..Don’t see the Oilers or Stars beating the Panthers
We the Oilers have SKINNER IN NET. He will beat Florida single handily.
Do you have any Florida swampland to sell?
Good thing a goalie is part of a team. Only a McDavid or a Draisaitl can beat a team single handedly. Oh… we have them and Florida doesn’t.
2025 Oilers can beat Florida, if they all play team defence and all the depth contributes. It’s not on Stu, Pickard or our two superstars.
Stay optimistic oiler_head …but first you have to get past Dallas. Never count your winnings while still seated at the table …
Oilers took them to 7 last year, and got goalie’d in game one. They can beat anyone, and sometimes if they turn the puck over too much, they can lose to anyone.
If the Oil get there, with Ekholm due back soon, I would bet on Edmonton.
Yes biased because I live here, but they playing really, really well right now and Dallas is better than the Canes IMO.
They also don’t have 3 or 4 guys eating up the entire cap so that they are the only ones who can be counted on. They play a TEAM game on and off the ice…the same cannot be said for the teams and players who follow the me me me NBA model
Nor do I. Pretty impressive group
George, regular season Matthew Tkachuk injured only played 52 games, Panthers finished third in division. Tkachuk (not 100%) returns for playoffs – POOF – PANTHERS DOMINANT! How much value is Power Forward?
Extremely powerful, Speed Kills, especially if they lead by example.
The play and leadership of his brother, Brady, was one of the main reasons why Ottawa finally broke a 7-year playoff drought.
But, they still have to be accompanied by others with similar mind-sets, and Florida has it in spades.
Their season finish in 3rd in the Atlantic, 1 point up on Ottawa, can undoubtedly be traced to the games missed by Matthew – but they also had Barkov out for 15 and Ekblad for 26.
Wonder who is making the decisions for Carolina. Signing Taylor Hall for 3 more years at 33 yrs old is a mistake. He like a lot of his teammates have been invisible in the series. Orlov had a tough night. His age is showing and Burns isn t close to the physical player he used to be.See this team slipping quickly with the turnover of players they will need to make for next season.Feel bad for Aho,he is leading a team of very followers.
Orlov played like he had money on the Panthers. Two goals directly off his turnovers, -4 for the night.
Let’s see in the offseason if the Canes try to add some physical players like the Bruins did last offseason to matchup with the Panthers ….it cost the Bruins they got slower and couldn’t score goals is why they missed the playoffs
Joe,my point,they aren t that far away from a makeover like Boston has to do. Start dealing players before you have to clean house like Boston did. Can t be to loyal to your players.They have 2 good young defensemen to replace Orlov and Burns but it will take time for them to develop.Hall signing???
Nor do I. Pretty impressive group
This series surprises me in that Carolina is so off their game.
Stylistically they have a hard swarming forecheck, pressuring the Dand controlling the zone, yet they are being passiveand Panthers have easy zone breakouts.
It isn’t as if the Fla D is quick and mobile but Canes are making it look easy.
On D Carolina is usually a high pressure man on man D forcing turnovers keeping it on the perimeter and they are now being more passive letting Fla crash the net.
I was expecting it to be close with Bobrovsky being the difference maker but he hasn’t been called upon to be a savior.
Its a wake up call for a fan like me who thinks he knows a thing or two about just how misguided even though I have no skin in the game, I happen to not like either Carolina or Fla.
Are Ottawa and the Habs really closer to reaching the upper echelons as our respective fanbases feel after the season and playoffs?
No, not yet. The Panthers are the gold standard right now. The Senators and Habs have bright futures but a lot of work remains to be done to reach that gold standard.
Florida is indeed in a “groove” both on-ice and in the management side of the game. If their season-end analysis (with a better-than-even chance of adding a back-to-back Cup) says they need to retain both Bennett and Ekblad, rest assured both will be back.
It’s far too early to say how Ottawa and Montreal will do next season – the same, of course, with every other team in the Conference. The draft and possible trades and/or free-agent signings will give us a better “feeling” in that regard.
Carolina out played FLA in game 1 and lost when they couldn’t get a save.
Got smoked in the next 2, still can’t get a save. Freddy has been good until this series. When your tender lets in soft goals it deflates the whole team, plus your trailing. They have a 76.81 sv% this series, tough to win with tending like that. And it’s not like Florida’s goals have all been highlight reel either.
I get it you need to keep going and bounce back, but you can’t give up that many and expect to win.
@habsfan
Is it a confidence of the FLA D vs the Canes forecheck right now?
AND the FLA D seem to jump at the right time where a skating team like the Canes usually makes you pay for that….
they do miss Pesce…and Burns is slow. Orlov was good vs the Caps and now…
I am still surprised the outcomes are this lopsided even with the aging Cane players getting lots of minutes. if you told me they would be outscored 16-4 in 3 games … would take that bet.
I think it comes down to that these 2 teams play a similar game but one knows how to win in the playoffs with a stronger killer instinct. Obviously the offense depth is a huge advantage
Not to mention goaltending.
Yeah that’s why the Leafs got blown out in their last two home games. The corporate suits in the lower bowl weren’t screaming loud enough. Sounds like they’re rapidly running out of excuses.
All that MAKE NOISE screaming crap, chanting, moronic goalie mocking is controlled by some dweeb prompting the zombies in the stands over the scoreboard or whatever the Hell they call that thing hanging over center ice.
And that’s a “feature” in EVERY rink.
Whenever a crowd is sitting on its hands there’s usually a good reason.
Those that choose not to respond to scoreboard prompting probably do so with the reasoning “wait until they DO something … THEN I’ll “make noise.”