THROUGH THE HEART OF CAROLINA

For the second time in three seasons, the Panthers eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final as Aleksander Barkov set up Carter Verhaeghe for the go-ahead goal late in the third period of Game 5. “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.” It was Verhaeghe’s 12th career playoff game-winning goal in 86 games. Only Brett Hull (14), Wayne Gretzky (13), Mike Bossy (13) and Guy Lafleur (13) scored more in that amount of time to that point in NHL history.