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DAYTONA, Fla. — Your attention please, my friends and readers who are hard-core NFL devotees and are still in recovery from last weekend. You know who I’m talking about. The folks who wear their favorite QB’s jersey all season, hunkered down in the recliner every Sunday with eye black smeared onto their face and a pair of 25-year-old underwear on, because that’s what they had on when their team won that one big game back that one time so many years ago. Last weekend they spent football’s biggest day answering an endless flurry of queries from relatives who hadn’t watched a down all fall, if ever, like, “Hey, that yellow handkerchief that guy keeps throwing on the field, what does that mean?”

Well, that’s exactly what we lifelong NASCAR fans will be subjected to Sunday when the Daytona 500 roars beneath the green flag to begin its 66th edition. It’s the Super Bowl of stock car racing, only it takes places at the beginning of the season instead as the grand finale. With February snow on the ground, no football to watch and the lure of the sheer over-the-top, turned-up-to-11 spectacle of it all, Daytona inevitably draws the eyeballs of millions of folks who watch NASCAR only once a year. Asking stuff of their obviously locked-in friends like, “Hey, that yellow flag that guy keeps waving over the racetrack, what does that mean?”

It is with that struggle in mind that we present our annual act of service for both sides of the stock car racing coin. A Daytona 500 cheat sheet that NASCAR newbies can memorize to impress that one friend with the “Raise Hell Praise Dale” tattoo, and also something that said Earnhardt follower can print and hand to their lost pal like a 200 mph FAQ.

You’re welcome, America. Enjoy the Great American Race.

Five favorites to win the Daytona 500

During the latest episode of his always entertaining (sometimes too entertaining for NASCAR brass) “Actions Detrimental” podcast, Denny Hamlin was asked for his pick to win the Daytona 500. He replied: “I’m not saying me. I know I’m going to win.” Cocky? Yes, always, but his Daytona confidence is well-founded. After all, he is a three-time winner of NASCAR’s biggest race, one of only six drivers to win three or more, and the other five on that list are already in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. If he wins again, he’ll move into a tie for second with Cale Yarborough, trailing only Richard Petty’s seven victories. Hamlin’s confidence is also well backed. Every single major handicapper has the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 installed as the favorite.

So, who is showing up as their second-best pick to click? The guy Hamlin mentioned on that same podcast. “If I don’t [win], I have a bold prediction: Kyle Busch wins his first Daytona 500.”

I strolled the Daytona garage Thursday evening asking for favorites from those who will be competing Sunday. The names mentioned most were Hamlin and Busch; defending Cup Series champ Ryan Blaney, who has finished second in this race twice and was eighth one year ago; Blaney’s Penske teammate Joey Logano, who won the 2015 Daytona 500 and will start first Sunday (although that might be a bad thing, more on that later); and their former teammate-turned-driver/owner Brad Keselowski. All three of those would-be favorites drive Fords. That’s not a coincidence.

The next five to keep an eye on

Kyle Larson is widely regarded as perhaps the fastest of the fast these days. In the past three seasons, he has won 17 races (that’s a lot), as well as a Cup Series title in 2021 and a runner-up finish behind Blaney last fall. For what it’s worth, he doesn’t buy into that pre-Daytona hype and points to his career Daytona 500 numbers, with a paltry two top-10s and zero top-5s in 10 tries. But still, his rivals and the wiseguys have him on their short lists and he was the strongest car in his Duel 150 on Thursday night before surrendering the lead late in the race.

Riding door-to-door with Larson in that second group is fellow 2023 title contender William Byron, who won a series-best six races one year ago and finished eighth at Daytona in the 400-mile August race. Who won that race? Chris Buescher, earning his first career victory, but he also finished fourth in last year’s Daytona 500, his third top-5 in the big race.

Another 500 favorite, according to the odds and the paddock chatter, is Byron and Larson’s Hendrick Motorsport teammate Chase Elliott, son of two-time Daytona 500 winner Bill Elliott. The issue is that the perpetual fan-voted Most Popular Driver is suffering a bit of confidence crisis after a 2023 season in which he missed multiple races, earned zero wins and failed to make the postseason cut.

Finally, the last of our second five-pack is Bubba Wallace. The driver of the 23XI Racing No. 23 has made six Daytona 500 starts and finished second twice; he was a contender one year ago before a late crash; and the first of his two career Cup Series wins came at Daytona’s cousin racetrack, Talladega Superspeedway, in 2021.

Five Daytona dark horses

OK, you really want to impress your racing-obsessed friends? When someone mentions a dark horse, reply, “Actually, there are 16 Dark Horses in the field because of the new Fords.” It’s true. Ford has rolled out a brand-new style of its race car for 2024 and nicknamed it the Dark Horse Mustang.

When it comes to actual, could-they-win long shot picks, though, keep your eyes on Tyler Reddick, who started way back in 19th in Thursday night’s first Duel 150 and diced his way past Larson to seize the win (no doubt making 23XI bosses Hamlin and Michael Jordan very happy). He was followed closely by wunderkind Carson Hocevar, who just turned 20 a few weeks ago — and was racing in the Truck series one year ago — but finished fourth in his qualifying race.

Austin Dillon will start the race 33rd but has won at Daytona twice, including the 2018 Daytona 500 (and he drives Dale Earnhardt’s legendary No. 3 car). Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has always been smooth at superspeedways and is the defending race champion.

Michael McDowell also shocked the world by winning the 2021 Daytona 500. He looked like the strongest car in his Duel before wisely getting out of the fray, because after qualifying second on Wednesday night, he will start on the front row alongside Logano.

And finally, a bonus pick: Martin Truex Jr., who has never been great at Daytona — three top-5 finishes in 37 Daytona oval starts — but, like Busch, has sentiment on his side. What does that mean? Keep reading.

Five legends who have somehow never won the Daytona 500

Truex: 34 career wins; 0-for-19 in Daytona 500; best finish: 2nd, 2016
Busch: 63 career wins; 0-for-18 in Daytona 500; best finish: 2nd, 2019
Keselowski: 35 career wins; 0-for-14 in Daytona 500; best finish: 3rd, 2014
Larson: 23 career wins; 0-for-10 in Daytona 500; best finish: 7th, 2016 and 2019
Elliott: 18 career wins; 0-for-8 in Daytona 500; best finish: 2nd, 2021

Everyone you see listed above will have a Lightning Lane to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but unless they figure out how to win the sport’s most prestigious event, they will also look at the stats on their plaque and go “Damn it!”

To Hamlin’s point with his pick, Busch especially is overdue, having checked off every accomplishment possible except for winning this race. Last year he was in the lead at the end of 500 miles, but a late caution sent the event into overtime, where he wrecked and finished 19th after getting caught up in the crash we call the Big One. Actually, it was the fourth Big One, but it got him.

We write this every year because every year it remains true: These frustrated greats are in great Daytona 500 company. Terry Labonte was 0-for-32, Ricky Rudd was 0-for-29 and Mark Martin was 0-for-29, while Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace and Tony Stewart ended their careers a combined 0-for-64.

Wait, Jimmie Johnson is in the Daytona 500?

Speaking of racers in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Johnson was inducted into the Hall just one month ago. So, that means he’s retired, right? No. Not in this world.

Yes, he is retired from full-time driving, but he has moved into full-time team ownership, his second season at the helm of what used to be Richard Petty’s team, now known as Legacy Motor Club. This will be the first of nine planned races for the two-time Daytona 500 winner and his first in a ride other than a Chevy as Legacy MC has switched to Toyotas this year in the hopes that it will be higher up the priority ladder of that manufacturer’s much less crowded roster of teams.

On Thursday night, he nearly literally drove the wheels off that Toyota as he fought to make the field for the race with no safety net of points or provisionals like the ones he enjoyed during his unparalleled career with Hendrick Motorsports, holding off old pal J.J. Yeley in a two-car fight for the final starting spot from their Duel 150.

“I have never felt pressure like that,” Johnson confessed Thursday, explaining his still-new world view as a team owner. “I was literally driving down the backstretch thinking about the people I was letting down. ‘I’m going to miss the Daytona 500, and I’m going to have to be shaking hands and visiting with people while the race is going on?'” He won’t. But man, it was close.

Five things you can shout out to make you seem really dialed in to Daytona

• “It’s the Petty family’s 75th anniversary in NASCAR!” Speaking of Richard Petty, last year NASCAR celebrated its 75th anniversary, and now it’s Petty’s turn. The Petty family, led by Richard and his son/racer/TV analyst Kyle, will spend this whole year commemorating their 75th year in NASCAR, a relationship that began in the very first race of what we now know as the Cup Series, a dirt track date in Charlotte when 11-year-old Richard sat in the grandstands and watched his father, Lee, wreck the car he had borrowed from a neighbor. A decade later, Lee won the inaugural Daytona 500, and Richard went on to add a record seven trophies.

From Petty Enterprises to Richard Petty Motorsports to Legacy MC, The King has been a mainstay in the NASCAR garage. Now he will be celebrated as he should be, at racetracks all season long via massive sculptures of his legendary cowboy hat, adorned with Petty family moments at each track.

• “That’s awesome that Joey Logano won the pole position. It’s a shame he probably won’t win the race.” This one will likely make your in-the-know NASCAR friends scoff and roll their eyes. After all, as we told you earlier, Logano is a future first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer who has won 32 races, including the 2015 Daytona 500.

Once he topped pole qualifying Wednesday night, though, history was immediately against him. The last time the No. 1 starter also wound up the No. 1 finisher was Dale Jarrett … in 2000! Logano was 9 years old.

• “Only 10 laps to go? There’s about to be a giant crash. Trust me.” Remember when we mentioned those four Big Ones in last year’s Daytona 500? Well, three of them happened with under 17 laps remaining in the race and the last two were unleashed in OT.

In the past eight Daytona 500s, there have been four last-lap passes for the lead. Before that, there had been only nine in 57 events. And over the past seven 500s, an average of 31 cars have been involved in crashes, including 30 one year ago. There are only 40 cars in the race. So, yeah, don’t stop watching just because you think the race is nearly over, because chances are it isn’t.

• “Can you smell what the Rock is cooking?!” Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be in the house for the Daytona 500. I intend to remind him that seven years ago John Cena drove the pace car and had what is considered the most entertaining celebrity prerace news conference ever seen at Daytona. Then we’ll see what happens.

This year’s honorary pace car driver is newly crowned Miss America Madison Marsh, who is also an active duty Air Force lieutenant, and the grand marshal is DJ Khaled. If we do indeed have all those crashes at the end, someone absolutely has to give him a microphone and let him keep saying, “Another one!”

• “Did you know that one driver in this race is actually a Jedi?” No, it’s not Kaz Grala, who will start 26th and has a name that totally sounds like he learned how to race from Yoda and Mace Windu. It’s Blaney, who, on Thursday night walked away from a Mustafar-type situation as his Ford caught fire, then on Friday dropped in our official ESPN Star Wars podcast “Never Tell Me the Odds” to talk to me, Clinton Yates and Arda Öcal about his lifelong obsession with all things in a galaxy far, far away.

You can listen to it here. It’s worth downloading just to hear him tell the story of the time he met Daisy Ridley, aka Rey, when he was younger and very single and totally choked.

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Panthers one game away from another Cup Final: Grades, biggest takeaways from Game 3

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Panthers one game away from another Cup Final: Grades, biggest takeaways from Game 3

One team is a win away from advancing to a third straight Stanley Cup Final. The other is about to once again come up short in a conference final. As drastic as that sounds, that is the reality facing the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes following the Panthers’ 6-2 win Saturday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers opened the series by scoring five goals in each of the first two games and exposing the Hurricanes in a way that hadn’t been done by another team this postseason. On Saturday, it appeared that the Canes may have found a solution as they entered the third period tied at 1-1 … before the Panthers exploded for five straight goals to close out Game 3 in emphatic fashion.

How did both teams perform? Who is worth watching in Game 4? And given that there’s a sweep in play, what could Monday mean for both teams, knowing that one of them could see their season come to an end? Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton answer those questions while reviewing what has been a lopsided Eastern Conference finals.

The Panthers withstood an expected early push from Carolina and settled swiftly into their own game. They failed to capitalize on their first-period power-play chance but made up for it by opening the scoring with a goal credited to Niko Mikkola (that actually went off Carolina’s Dmitry Orlov) midway through the first. It was a deflating marker for Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov to cede right after a solid Hurricanes penalty kill and appeared to diminish Carolina’s confidence.

There was potential to shift Carolina’s momentum, though. Before the first period ended, Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen finished a check sending Jackson Blake awkwardly into the boards. That earned Luostarinen a five-minute penalty and game misconduct, putting the Panthers down two of their top forwards in Luostarinen and an injured Sam Reinhart. But Florida didn’t let the lengthy man advantage hurt its momentum. The Panthers killed it off and matched Carolina’s shot total while shorthanded.

While the score was tied at 1-1 going into the third, Florida regained its lead with Jesper Boqvist undressing (to put it mildly) Orlov in shocking fashion. Boqvist entered the lineup to replace Reinhart, and it was the type of contribution Florida could only hope to see from its depth skater.

It was all Panthers from there, with goals from Mikkola, Aleksander Barkov (capitalizing on a turnover by Orlov), Evan Rodrigues and Brad Marchand giving Florida a 6-1 lead halfway through the third and putting Carolina against the ropes going into an elimination Game 4. Florida will wonder about Mikkola’s status ahead of that tilt. (He left in the third period Saturday after slamming into the end boards.) But the Cats can’t be too frustrated given their win. — Kristen Shilton

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Jesper Boqvist puts Panthers back ahead

Jesper Boqvist goes through the goaltender’s legs to restore the Panthers’ lead vs. the Hurricanes.

Unofficial Canadian poet laureate Avril Lavigne once posed one of more philosophical questions of her generation: Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?

Everything the Hurricanes did through the first two periods of Game 3 created the belief that they could potentially stick with the Panthers. Only to then fall apart in the third period. Again.

There are numerous reasons why losing Game 3 is so damning for the Hurricanes. What might be the most prominent and prevalent is there might not be anything else they can do at this stage. We have seen the Panthers take a 3-0 series lead only to be pushed to a Game 7 in a playoff series. That was the case in last year’s Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers.

But through three games of this series? The Hurricanes have switched goaltenders, adjusted their lineups and sought out other alterations within their structure — and still lost by a large margin while once again falling prey to being on the other end of a big period. — Ryan S. Clark


Three Stars of Game 3

Mikkola has had quite a series. The defensemen has broken up plays, taken command off the rush and created quality scoring chances. He had two goals in Game 3 for his first career multigoal playoff game and the fourth multigoal playoff game in Panthers franchise history.

It was two goals and a helper for the Cats’ captain. This was Barkov’s 20th career multipoint playoff game, the most in Panthers franchise history.

3. The Panthers’ third period

The Panthers unloaded in the final frame, scoring five goals to run away with Game 3 by a final score of 6-2. Five tucks is the most in any period in a playoff game in franchise history. The Hurricanes have now lost 15 straight conference final games since they won the Stanley Cup in 2006. — Arda Öcal

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Panthers pour it on with 2 more quick goals

The Panthers net two more goals in just over a minute to pad their lead vs. the Hurricanes.


Players to watch in Game 4

There’s no question Florida’s netminder has been building a Conn Smythe case with his excellent play in this postseason. However, Bobrovsky hasn’t been at his most dominant in (initial) closeout games during the playoffs. He made 26 saves for an .897 save percentage in Florida’s Game 5 win over Tampa Bay to send the Lightning home, and made just 15 stops (.882 SV%) in Florida’s Game 6 loss to Toronto in the second round, when the Panthers had a chance to advance.

Bobrovsky was practically impenetrable in Game 7 of that series as the Leafs imploded, but it’s fair to wonder what version of Bobrovsky the Panthers will get in Game 4.

When Florida had an opportunity to close out Edmonton in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final last spring, Bobrovsky turned in his worst showing of the playoffs, with five goals allowed on 11 shots that saw him chased from the net in an 8-1 thumping. Florida has put itself in a good position to send Carolina home, but wouldn’t it be nice to do it sooner than later? Bobrovsky at his best will help Florida do just that. — Shilton

Benching Frederik Andersen was done with the belief that Kochetkov could give the Hurricanes a stronger chance to win. Through two periods, it appeared that that could be the case, as Kochetkov received the necessary support from the Hurricanes’ defensive structure, something that had been an issue in the first two games.

But the Panthers’ five consecutive goals in the third period derailed things. The Hurricanes have now allowed 16 goals over three games. It’s a stark contrast to the first two rounds, when Carolina allowed 18 total in 10 games against the Devils and Capitals.

Kochetkov’s first two periods of Game 3 provided a level of consistency the Hurricanes have struggled to find at times. Is it possible they take something from the opening two-thirds of Game 3 and parlay it into a different outcome in Game 4? Or will it be game and season over instead? — Clark


Big questions for Game 4

Is Florida ready to end this series?

The cliché that the fourth win of a playoff series is the hardest to get exists for a reason. The Panthers experienced that firsthand last season when they took a 3-0 lead over Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final, then crisscrossed the continent over the next week as the Oilers clawed back to force a Game 7.

Did the Panthers learn their lesson on how to close an opponent out quickly? Florida did it to these very Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals two years ago with a tidy four-game sweep featuring many of the same elements we’ve seen from the Panthers in this round. But Florida appeared to have Edmonton well in hand 11 months ago, too.

Game 3 was arguably the Hurricanes’ best of the series. If they can channel some significant desperation into their game Monday, how will Florida handle the pressure of an urgent club trying not to be embarrassed with a 16th consecutive loss in a conference final situation? The Panthers can’t afford to look past what will be a dramatic Game 4. — Shilton

Is this it for the Hurricanes — and what comes next if it is?

That in and of itself is a rather loaded question for several reasons, with the obvious being: Will Monday be Carolina’s last game of the 2025 playoffs? If it is, what could that mean for the franchise going forward?

The way the Hurricanes have been constructed has allowed them to become a perennial playoff team with a legitimate chance of reaching the conference finals. But that comes with the caveat that the Canes might not go any further than that.

It was a dilemma the Panthers faced before making the changes that saw them not only win a Stanley Cup, but also be one win away from a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final. Maybe it doesn’t come to that point for the Hurricanes. But if they allow five or more goals for a fourth straight game while also struggling to score? It could lead to some difficult questions this offseason in Raleigh. — Clark

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Up 3-0, Panthers will not ‘start looking ahead’

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Up 3-0, Panthers will not 'start looking ahead'

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers are one win away from an Eastern Conference finals sweep. They’ve outscored the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that’s lost 15 straight conference final games, by a count of 16-4. Yet Panthers forward Brad Marchand is still ready for this series to go the distance.

“We’re prepared to go seven here,” he said after their 6-2 victory in Game 3 on Saturday night. “I mean, you can’t start looking ahead. That’s such a dangerous game to play.”

Contextually, that mindset might seem preposterous. The Panthers are trying to match the Tampa Bay Lightning as the only teams since the Edmonton Oilers’ 1980s dynasty to advance to the Stanley Cup Final in three straight seasons, having won the Cup last season. They’ve dominated the Hurricanes with their physicality, scoring depth and the goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky, who now has a .947 save percentage and a 1.33 goals-against average in the conference finals.

It seems like a matter of when, not if, Florida will eliminate Carolina — and the “when” is trending to be Monday night at home in Game 4. Yet the Panthers are the last team to take a 3-0 lead for granted.

Coach Paul Maurice recalled their semifinals series against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023, when they went up 3-0 and dropped a Game 4 on home ice. “We wanted it so bad that we tried to win the game on every play,” he said.

Then came the ultimate lesson on how not to close out a series: The 2024 Stanley Cup Final, which saw the Panthers squander a 3-0 series lead to the Edmonton Oilers before finally winning Game 7 to hoist the Cup for the first time.

Maurice hopes his players understand the dynamics at play in Game 4.

“They have the desperation advantage. You have, potentially, the desire advantage. Both teams will fight that. Can we control the desire emotion and play the game? Can they control the desperation emotion and play the game? The common denominator is just playing the game,” he said.

Game 3 saw the Hurricanes play with more desperation than they’ve exhibited in this series. The game was tied 1-1 entering the third period after Carolina’s Logan Stankoven — who Bobrovsky robbed earlier in the second period with a lunging blocker save — managed to knock the puck past him for a power-play goal at 14:51 to even the score.

The Hurricanes were finally looking like the stingy, tight-checking team they’re known for being. Maurice wasn’t expecting a windfall of offense from the Panthers after the first 40 minutes of Game 3.

“We’re not going out to the third period saying, ‘Well, we can tell this is going to work out [for us]. I’ve got an extra piece of gum in my pocket for the second overtime. That’s how our experience with Carolina has been,” the coach said.

The gum stayed in his pocket. Florida scored five goals in the first 10:37 of the third period to put the game — and potentially the series — away.

“We knew we needed to be a little better than what we were in the second period, so we tried to keep things simple and I think we got rewarded for that,” said captain Aleksander Barkov, who had two of the goals in the onslaught.

Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour was left dumbfounded.

“We’re playing better and then we just turn pucks over. It’s not what we do. I think everyone’s just pretty surprised, you know what I mean?” he said. “Just you can’t do that. In a preseason game it’s going to cost you. But against that team, and you turn it over for odd man rushes? Forget it.”

The key to the rally was a goal by forward Jesper Boqvist, who was put on Barkov’s line as an injury replacement for Sam Reinhart, the Panthers’ leading scorer in the regular season. He took a short pass from linemate Evan Rodrigues and then turned Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov (minus-4) inside out before scoring on the backhand against Pyotr Kochetkov (22 saves), who got the start over Frederik Andersen in Game 3 for Carolina.

Boqvist had just one goal and one assist in 9 playoff games this postseason, averaging 8:53 in ice time. In Game 3, he had three points (1 goal, 2 assists) and skated 15:08 for the Panthers.

“He’s an extremely gifted player. I love playing with him. He can kind of play anywhere in the lineup and he’s such an incredible skater. So strong with the puck, so smart. And that was a massive goal,” Marchand said.

The Panthers won Game 3 without Reinhart and without having forward Eetu Luostarinen for most of the game, after he was ejected for boarding Carolina forward Jackson Blake in the first period. Luostarinen was tied for the team lead with 13 points entering Game 3, with 4 goals and 9 assists.

The Panthers would kill off that 5-minute major in what Maurice called “a real inflection point in the game,” considering that Florida was missing key penalty killers in Luostarinen and Reinhart, who is day-to-day with a lower body injury. When they needed him, Bobrovsky (23 saves) was a great last line of defense.

Thanks to their third-period deluge, the Panthers are now poised to sweep the Hurricanes in the conference final for the second time in three postseasons. Yet even with Florida’s domination of the series, Marchand said his team is anything but overconfident.

“I don’t think the way the games have been played is really an indication of what the outcome’s been, score wise. They’ve been pretty tight. It just seems like we’ve gotten a couple bounces, a couple lucky breaks here and there that have given us a pretty good lead,” he said.

“But it doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything about next game. We’ve got to come in and prepare the same way. It’s always the toughest one to get, so we got to make sure we bring our best.”

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Panthers’ Luostarinen ejected after check in 1st

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Panthers' Luostarinen ejected after check in 1st

SUNRISE, Fla. — Florida Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen was ejected from Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals after a boarding major against forward Jackson Blake of the Carolina Hurricanes.

With 3:01 left in the first period, Blake was chasing the puck back in his own zone with Luostarinen behind him. As Luostarinen reached out with his stick, Blake stopped short of the boards and Luostarinen hit through him. Luostarinen drove Blake’s head into the boards, bloodying the Carolina forward.

The on-ice officials gave Luostarinen a five-minute major and then reviewed the hit. They confirmed the call on the ice. Per NHL Rule 41.5, when a major penalty for boarding is called, a game misconduct is automatic. A major penalty for boarding is determined by “the degree of violence of the impact with the boards.”

Luostarinen was tied for the team lead with 13 points entering Game 3, with 4 goals and 9 assists. He scored 12 of those points on the road. Blake returned to action in the second period.

The Panthers lead the series 2-0 and had a 1-0 lead in Game 3 when the major penalty was called.

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