I said the other day that I hope disappointed fans would give the conference finals a chance because I think these could be two fun series. And so far we’ve had a lot of fun – five overtime periods! And they’ve been fun to watch as long as you can stay up late on a school night. I’ve got no plans until like 10 AM on Sunday (farmers market), so this one can go as late as it needs to.

FLORIDA AT CAROLINA

8:00 PM
Florida leads 1-0

In the third period of Game 1, the Hurricanes had 13 shots to the Panthers’ 2, 21 attempts to 4, 5 high-dangers chances to zero. They generated 1.75 expected goals, whereas Florida generated just 0.05 – a 97-to-3 ratio. That’s as dominant as any hockey team can be in this league, and it should scare the heck out of Paul Maurice that the Canes could do that to him in the playoffs. The Cats did a lot better in overtime, but what the heck happened in the third?

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