Matthew Tkachuk delivered for Florida, again, and Sergei Bobrovsky denied Carolina, again, as the Panthers won 4-3 on Wednesday to sweep the Hurricanes and enter the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1996.
The wait is over: After 27 years, the Panthers — an ice hockey punchline no more — are again going to play for the game’s grandest prize after sweeping the Eastern Conference Finals.
Tkachuk got his second goal of the game with 4.9 seconds left to earn his team a spot against either the Vegas Golden Knights or the Dallas Stars for the Stanley Cup starting next week.
Photo: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY
Bobrovsky stopped 36 shots to cap his stellar series — four games, four one-goal wins, three of them basically in sudden death, a 0.966 save percentage after stopping 174 of the 180 shots he faced. The first two wins were in overtime, and this one might as well have been.
The Panthers scored 10 goals in the series and Bobrovsky ensured that those were all they needed. They were the No. 8 seeds, the last team in, the longest of long shots — which is consistent with their history, after not winning a single playoff series in 26 years, a drought that ended last season.
Tkachuk arrived last summer saying that he wanted to bring Florida a Cup.
“It’s amazing,” Bobrovsky said. “We showed the resilience ... and we’re lucky to have Chucky on our side. He knows how to score big goals.”
NHL senior vice president Brian Jennings was tasked with presenting the Prince of Wales Trophy. After some photographs, Aleksander Barkov — the captain who had two assists, one of them on the game-winner — grabbed it, and skated it away.
Some teams touch it. Some do not. A few of the Panthers did, but Barkov did not pass it around.
“It’s hard to explain right now. Everything just happened so quick,” Barkov said. “It means a lot. It definitely does... It hasn’t been easy and nobody said it’s going to be easy.”
“We earned that thing, and definitely didn’t do it the easy way,” Tkachuk said. “We earned it.”
Ryan Lomberg and Anthony Duclair had the other goals for Florida, who swept a series for the first time in franchise history.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
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