The last four in the NHL are official after the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 on Sunday: the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers will beat the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals, while the Dallas Stars face the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Finals.
The Eastern Conference showdown is the 2023 final and won by the Panthers. Can Carolina win this time, or will Florida return to the Stanley Cup final for the third consecutive year?
To help you get your pace ahead of the series, we are here to use Key Intel from ESPN Research, information invested from ESPN BET and more.
Ways to the conference finals:
hurricane: Five out of five, the capital defeated the devil in five
Black Panther: Five-fifths of lightning beat seven
Leading playoff scorers:
hurricane: Seth Jarvis (four goals, six assists), Sebastian Aho (three goals, seven assists)
Black Panther: Brad Marchand (three goals, nine assists), Eetu Luostarinen (three goals, nine assists)
schedule:
Game 1: Hurricane Black Panther | May 20, 8 pm (TNT)
Game 2: Hurricane Black Panther | May 22, 8 pm (TNT)
Game 3: Black Panther Hurricane | May 24 at 8 pm (TNT)
Game 4: Black Panther Hurricane | May 26, 8 pm (TNT)
Game 5: Hurricane Black Panther | May 28 at 8 pm (TNT)
Game 6: Black Panther Hurricane | May 30 at 8 pm (TNT)
Game 7: Hurricane Black Panther | June 1, 8 pm (TNT)
Series Odds:
Black Panther: -125
hurricane: +105
Stanley Cup Odds:
Black Panther: +250
hurricane: +300
The showdown notes of ESPN research
hurricane
For the sixth time in franchise history and the third time in the last six years, the Hurricane reached the final. Carolina has made three final appearances with the Edmonton Oilers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights tied for second place since 2019. The Dallas Stars have four times in the past six years.
Logan Stankoven is expected to make his Eastern Conference finals debut after he is expected to make his debut with the stars in his first NHL season. He will join Ville Leino (2009 and 2010) as the only player to play in the Eastern and Western Conference Finals in the first two seasons of the NHL (since 1994).
The Hurricane lost 12 consecutive games in the finals. Their final victory was Game 7 in 2006 against Buffalo Sabres, when Rod Brind'Amour scored a final victory in the power game, with 8:38 left in the third phase after the hockey surpassed the glass free throw. The 12-game losing streak included being swept by the Panthers in 2023.
Carolina has won Brind'Amour's 10th playoff series since 2019; only Lightning (11) won more series titles during this period.
Andrei Svechnikov's series definition goal entered the third stage 18:01. It is the second series goal in the history of the series. Eric Staal scored 19:28 in Game 7 of the 2009 first round game held by the New Jersey Devils.
Since Philadelphia Flyers in 1997, the Hurricanes have beaten Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the second round to become the first team to eliminate the leading goal division in NHL history, who removed Wayne Gretzky and the New York Rangers. Brind'Amour, who had leaflets at the time, achieved the series' definition goals.
Black Panther
The Panthers beat Toronto 6-1 for the third consecutive final. Florida joined the Dallas star in 2023-25, Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020-22, Chicago Blackhawks of the Year 2013-25, Los Angeles Kings of the Year 2012-24, and Detroit Red Wings in 2007-2009, is the only team in the salary CAP ERA (since 2005-06) that attributed it to the conference finals of the three-game winning streak.
Florida lost 2-0 to 4-3 in the series, marking the first time in franchise history they overcame a 2-0 series deficit (previously 0-5) in the seven-point season playoffs. The Panthers are the seventh Stanley Cup winner in the NHL expansion era (since 1967-68), winning the seven-point playoffs after facing a 2-0 series deficit.
The Panthers are now 4-1 in Game 7, including a 3-0 road, becoming the third series to win its Game 7 Game 7 (and the Pittsburgh Penguins and Minnesota Wild).
Brad Marchand scored 3 points (one goal, two assists) for the Panthers, gave him a 10-point career in Game 7, finished the seventh highest Alex Ovickin (8) among active players and tied him for tenth place with Paul Stastny and Jari Kurri. Marchand's three-pointer gave him 37 professional playoff scores against the Maple Leafs, and in playoff history, any player overtook Toronto second place over Alex Delvecchio (35), behind Gordie Howe (53). In Game 7 of his career, Marchand improved his 5-0 against Maple Leafs, becoming the first player in NHL history to beat a team in five-game winning full game.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice also stayed perfect in Game 7, serving as head coach, improving to 6-0. He is one of two head coaches in NHL history, winning his first six career games with current Dallas bench owner Peter Deboer (9-0).