BARKY LIGHTS THE LAMP

Game 3 of the 2025 Eastern Conference Final was a tight affair — 1-1 after two periods — until the Panthers came out swinging in the third period with five straight goals. The captain of the Cats, Aleksander Barkov, was right in the middle of the offensive outburst with two goals 2:36 apart to lift the Panthers to a 6-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. “We are playing, obviously, a really good team and they are going to have their moments as well. We just need to stay focused,” Barkov said. “They had a really good push in the second period and ‘Bob’ [Sergei Bobrovsky] helped us a lot. … In the third period, we took over. The confidence level is high. Everyone is having fun right now.”