Hurricanes shut out Panthers in Game 4, keep season alive

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Frederik Andersen made 20 saves, and the Carolina Hurricanes avoided elimination by defeating the Florida Panthers 3-0 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.

It was the second shutout this postseason for Andersen, who allowed nine goals on 36 shots in Games 1 and 2 before backing up Pyotr Kochetkov in Game 3.

Game 5 of the best-of-7 series will be at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“We wanted to leave it all out there and play our best game,” Andersen said. “We were rewarded for it. I love playing with this team, so, happy to be getting another shot [Wednesday]. We were closer to our game, and we’re a pretty good team when we play our game. We need more of that.”

Logan Stankoven scored for the Hurricanes, who are the No. 2 seed from the Metropolitan Division.

It was Carolina's first win in the Eastern Conference Final since June 1, 2006. It was swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, the Boston Bruins in 2019 and the Panthers in 2023.

“It’s nice not to have to talk about that,” said coach Rod Brind’Amour, who scored the game-winning goal for the Hurricanes in their 4-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final on June 1, 2006.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves for the Panthers, who are the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division.

Florida played for the second straight game without forward Sam Reinhart, who sustained a lower-body injury in Game 2. Forward A.J. Greer and defenseman Niko Mikkola also did not play because of undisclosed injuries.

“You’ll always look at it in your end, and you will be able to find lots of stuff [where] we were looking for something better," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “You will always play a slow game when you do that. I am exceptionally happy with the learning opportunity. ... Give Carolina credit. They were quick, they closed the gap, blocked some shots, hustled real hard. (They) played a great game.”

Stankoven gave Carolina its first lead of the series at 10:45 of the second period. Alexander Nikishin sent a cross-ice backhand pass to Stankoven, who skated in all alone from the blue line before roofing a shot over the blocker of Bobrovsky.

Nikishin’s pass came after Stankoven said he called for the puck.

“The play happened so fast," he said. “It was a great feed by [Nikishin] to make that play off the turnover. It all starts with him. ... We try to preach about winning a period and go from there. It was nice to get the lead tonight, play on our toes instead of our heels. You can't look too far ahead. We know we've got a long ways to go still."

The Hurricanes appeared to make it 2-0 at 6:31 of the third period on a goal from Mark Jankowski. However, Florida challenged the play for offside, and a video reviewed determined that Eric Robinson, who fed the charging Jankowski, entered the zone prior to the puck.

Carolina did eventually take a 2-0 lead at 17:49 when Sebastian Aho scored into an empty net.

Jordan Staal then scored his own empty-net goal at 18:15 for the 3-0 final.

“Right from the start we were good all night,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s how we need to play if we’re going to have a chance, and we gave ourselves a chance. Everything was solid tonight. The goalie great when he needed to be, the penalty kill was phenomenal (4-for-4). That was obviously more like it.”

Florida center Sam Bennett said Carolina played like a team that knew its season would end with a loss.

“When you’re down, you lay everything on the line,” Bennett said. “You have nothing to lose and they played a good game. We didn’t have our best tonight, but we’re still in a good position.”

NOTES: Andersen is the third goaltender in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history to get a shutout with his team facing elimination. He also became the fourth goalie in franchise history with multiple postseason shutouts. Cam Ward ranks first with four. ... Stankoven is the first rookie in franchise history to score multiple game-winning goals in a postseason.