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)

Defending champion Panthers head back to Cup final with 5-3 win over Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe broke a tie off a feed from Aleksander Barkov with 7:39 left and the defending champion Florida Panthers advanced to their third straight Stanley Cup Final, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 on Wednesday night in Game 5.

The Panthers beat the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference 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, then Florida answer with three second-period goals, only to see Carolina’s Seth Jarvis beat Sergei Bobrovsky midway through the third to tie it at 3.

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 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)
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)
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)

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

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