
MLB Power Rankings: The AL and NL Central are rising — which teams are in our top 10?
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adminWhile some of the usual players dominate our list, five of our top teams this week are in two unexpected divisions — the AL and NL Central.
Coming into the 2024 season, expectations of success were high for the perennial postseason contenders but not so much for some of the clubs in the Central divisions. However, through seven weeks, the Guardians are tied with the Braves for the fifth best run differential in MLB, the Royals’ offense has put more than 200 runs on the board and the Brewers have scored the third-most runs in the majors.
Can these squads stay on a roll as we get deeper into the season?
Our expert panel has combined to rank every team in baseball based on a combination of what we’ve seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts David Schoenfield, Bradford Doolittle, Jesse Rogers, Alden Gonzalez and Jorge Castillo to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Record: 29-16
Previous ranking: 1
Shohei Ohtani nearly produced a “Splash Hit” at Oracle Park in a 10-2 victory over the division rival Giants on Tuesday, the Dodgers’ fifth consecutive win against them this season. It traveled 446 feet. “Barry territory,” as Dodgers manager and former Barry Bonds teammate Dave Roberts put it. By the end of the night, Ohtani’s slash line stood at .361/.427/.680, his 1.108 OPS leading the major leagues but just barely ahead of teammate Mookie Betts‘. The top half of the Dodgers’ lineup has been an absolute force, but lately it’s their pitching that has been arguably most impressive. The Dodgers have held opponents to four runs or less in every game this month. — Gonzalez
Record: 31-13
Previous ranking: 2
The Phillies have soared to the best record in the majors thanks to a 15-3 stretch that saw them outscore opponents by 59 runs. At 30-13 heading into Wednesday’s game, it ranks as the second-best record through 43 games in franchise history — the 1976 Phillies started 32-11 on their way to 101 wins and an NL East title. Those Phillies had Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt, two Hall of Famers. These Phillies have Ranger Suarez and Alec Bohm filling the roles of ace lefty and hard-hitting third baseman. Suarez continues to baffle opposing hitters with a 7-0 record and 1.50 ERA in eight starts while Bohm is hitting .331 with 35 RBIs in 43 games. — Schoenfield
Record: 26-14
Previous ranking: 4
The Braves bounced back from a sweep by the Dodgers with a two-game sweep of the Red Sox and then series wins against the Mets and Cubs. Through Tuesday, the pitching staff had a seven-game stretch in which it allowed just nine runs with a 1.16 ERA — and a 19-game stretch where it had a 2.25 ERA and allowed more than four runs just once. Chris Sale has led the way with wins in five straight starts, including consecutive scoreless outings against the Red Sox and Cubs with 19 strikeouts and one walk over 13 innings. So far, the Sale trade looks like one of the best transactions of the offseason. — Schoenfield
Record: 27-14
Previous ranking: 3
The four-game series between the Orioles and Yankees at the turn of the month was framed as the season’s first AL East showdown between arguably the two best teams in the American League. And Baltimore’s 7-2 win on May 2 closed an emphatic early statement as the Orioles took three of four from the Yankees at Camden Yards to seize first place in the division. Their places in the standings have since flipped again Tuesday, and it probably won’t be the last time. These teams have nine more regular-season meetings — and maybe a few more in October. — Castillo
Record: 29-15
Previous ranking: 5
Rarely this season has the Yankees’ bullpen — one of the best in baseball by most indicators — combusted and required a bailout from the offense. But it happened, led by one of their struggling veterans, in a 10-6 win over the Rays on Sunday. Tampa Bay, down 6-0, scored five runs off left-handers Caleb Ferguson and Nick Burdi in the seventh inning to pull within one. The Yankees offense, as streaky as any, responded with a four-spot in the eighth inning to put the Rays away. Gleyber Torres, off to an alarmingly poor start heading into free agency, led the counter with a three-run home run. The second baseman then went 2-for-5 when the Yankees beat the Twins on Tuesday, raising his OPS to .569. Getting Torres on track should raise New York’s run-scoring ceiling in support of one of the top pitching staffs in the game. — Castillo
Record: 27-17
Previous ranking: 6
The Guardians are third in the AL in runs scored despite ranking 10th in batting average, sixth in OBP and eighth in slugging percentage. Their best numbers, however, have come with runners in scoring position: .290/.382/.470. Their .852 OPS with RISP is the third-highest in the majors behind the Brewers and Rangers. Andres Gimenez is hitting .447 with RISP while Gimenez, David Fry, Estevan Florial, Bo Naylor, Josh Naylor and Will Brennan each have an OPS over .900. It’s working so far, but the Guardians are unlikely to remain as hot all season in those situations. — Schoenfield
Record: 26-17
Previous ranking: 10
Unlike some teams in the NL Central, Milwaukee has had a streak of great victories recently. Was it the come-from-behind, ninth-inning win over Kansas City on May 7? Or perhaps it was one of the three drubbings of the Cardinals a few days later. The Brewers continue to score runs at a surprising rate as they totaled 37 in five wins over the past week. Their 11-2 blowout of St. Louis on May 10 stands out simply because they scored double digits without the aid of a home run. MVP candidate William Contreras scored three times while shortstop Willy Adames hit three doubles. Milwaukee is looking more and more like it has staying power. — Rogers
Record: 25-19
Previous ranking: 8
While rookie Shota Imanaga is garnering all the headlines, you would be hard-pressed to find another lesser-known starter having a better year than righty Javier Assad. Any of his outings could be considered among the best of late — or even the season. His six shutout innings against the first-place Brewers on May 5 was a thing of beauty as he only struck out four hitters, allowing his defense to do its thing. Assad is old-school, relying on a sinker as much as any other pitch. He throws three different pitches about the same number of times — also an old-school trait. The 5-0 win that day secured the series victory and moved the Cubs into a virtual tie for first place at the time. It also lowered Assad’s ERA to a nifty 1.66. — Rogers
Record: 24-18
Previous ranking: 9
The Twins’ 3-1 win over the Red Sox on May 4 was, in a vacuum, a ho-hum result. But zoom out and a season-changing stretch appears: That victory was Minnesota’s 12th straight, vaulting the club from 7-13 to 19-13 in less than two weeks. The Twins launched the invigorating run with 10 consecutive wins over the White Sox and Angels, two of the league’s bottom feeders. But a 12-game winning streak against anybody at this level is a significant feat. For the Twins, it erased a rocky start — and perhaps kept their hopes for another AL Central title alive. — Castillo
Record: 26-19
Previous ranking: 12
The Royals’ propensity for dialing up their offense in the late innings was on full display on May 10 in Anaheim, at an hour when many of their fans back in the Midwest had retired for the evening. And you couldn’t blame them since the KC offense showed little life against Griffin Canning and three relievers, who turned over a 1-0 lead to closer Carlos Estevez in the ninth. Estevez retired Michael Massey, but MJ Melendez singled. Then Adam Frazier yanked a 2-0 fastball just inside the right-field foul pole for his first homer as a Royal. The Royals held on for the win. They rank in the middle of the pack in most key offensive categories, including runs. However, after the seventh inning, they are tied for second in runs, third in homers and have the highest team OPS with runners in scoring position. — Doolittle
Record: 24-20
Previous ranking: 11
Here are three facts that, before the season, you would not think could be true for Seattle at the same time. First, Julio Rodriguez has played in every game. Second, he has two home runs. Third, the Mariners have been in, or close to, first place in the AL West for the past month. Rodriguez went homerless over his first 22 games before going deep on April 23. Rather than the start of a trend, he then went homerless in his next 17 games. Finally, on May 12, he hit a two-run jack to dead center off Oakland lefty Alex Wood to end the drought. A trend this time? Maybe. The blast came amid a string of six straight balls Rodriguez hit into play that topped 100 mph in exit velocity. If fact No. 3 for Seattle (first place) is to continue, you have to believe that fact No. 2 (very few J-Rod dingers) can’t continue. — Doolittle
Record: 23-22
Previous ranking: 7
May has been a struggle for Rangers pitching, recalling the late-summer fade by the staff in 2023 that threatened to sink their breakout season. It worked out, obviously, but it wasn’t a pattern they necessarily want to replicate. What is concerning is that the problem hasn’t been the Rangers’ injury-riddled rotation but a bullpen that has fallen into disarray despite a depth chart long on proven options.
This trend might have reached its apex on May 13. After seven shutout, one-hit innings from Michael Lorenzen, the Rangers lost 7-0 to the Guardians, who scored all of their runs in the eighth and ninth against the Texas bullpen. That brought the Rangers’ bullpen ERA in May to an eye-jabbing 9.16. It’s too early to panic, but some kind of stable pecking order needs to be found or else it might not matter when their recovering rotation stars begin to return to active duty. — Doolittle
Record: 22-21
Previous ranking: 13
The Red Sox have overcome a cascade of injuries to remain above water behind their unexpectedly elite starting rotation. On Saturday, that group received a boost when Brayan Bello came off the injured list to pitch five innings in Boston’s 3-2 win over the Nationals. The right-hander held Washington to two runs on four hits in his first start after missing nearly a month with lat tightness. Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford have shined atop Boston’s rotation. The 24-year-old Bello should help. — Castillo
Record: 22-24
Previous ranking: 14
Luis Arraez compiled four hits in his Padres debut on May 4, but he took it a step further in his home debut on Friday — delivering the walk-off hit against the hated Dodgers in a 2-1 victory. It was the start of a weekend in which the Padres took two of three from the Dodgers and set a Petco Park attendance record for a three-game series. That, however, was followed by a three-game sweep to the lowly Rockies, a reminder that these Padres are still not clicking on all cylinders. Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado and Ha-Seong Kim in particular have struggled, but the starting rotation has been better and Joe Musgrove is expected to rejoin them in Atlanta over the weekend. — Gonzalez
Record: 21-23
Previous ranking: 19
The magic that carried Arizona through a thrilling October has been elusive this season, but a flicker of it arrived on Monday night. Down a run in the bottom of the ninth, with the bases loaded against All-Star closer Edwin Diaz, Kevin Newman reached out his hands and dropped a base hit into a vacant right field for a walk-off victory. It was the Diamondbacks’ sixth win in a stretch of eight games, a sign that perhaps they might be starting to turn the corner. But they can’t fully do so until Corbin Carroll gets going. And he continues to struggle, his slash line sitting at .193/.284/.255. — Gonzalez
Record: 21-22
Previous ranking: 15
Reese Olson pitched eight scoreless innings against the lowly Marlins on Tuesday, but the Tigers lost 1-0. Olson’s ERA is down to 2.06, and yet somehow the 24-year-old right-hander has an 0-4 record. The Tigers are averaging just 2.13 runs in his starts, making Olson last in the majors in run support. He embodies a larger scale problem for his team, which boasts one of the sport’s best pitching staffs but also one of its worst offenses. It won’t get much better unless Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith finds a way to get going. Add those two and the perpetually struggling Javier Baez and you get a combined .188/.244/.261 slash line from three critical infielders. — Gonzalez
Record: 22-22
Previous ranking: 16
A week after getting swept by the bumbling White Sox, the Rays walked off the Mets in a 10-inning comeback victory to complete their first sweep of the season. Down to their final out in the ninth inning, the Rays had Randy Arozarena, scuffling badly to begin the season, deliver an improbable game-tying solo home run off Mets closer Edwin Díaz. The Mets scored on an error in the 10th inning, putting the Rays on the ropes again, before Jonny DeLuca, in his third game of the season, walked it off with a two-run triple. The Rays are .500 despite a minus-30 run differential thanks to being 7-4 in one-run games and 3-2 in extra-inning games. — Castillo
Record: 19-23
Previous ranking: 20
It’s mid-May, but the Blue Jays need every win to stay within striking distance of a postseason spot. On Monday, they secured an impressive one in 10 innings against the Orioles in Baltimore behind Daulton Varsho. With Toronto down one in the eighth inning, Varsho delivered a tying home run off Yennier Cano. Two innings later, Varsho’s RBI groundout gave the Blue Jays their first lead and, eventually, the win to move to three games under .500 and five games out of the third wild-card spot. The Blue Jays showed some life. They need plenty more to avoid disappointment — and, maybe, a fire sale. — Castillo
Record: 19-23
Previous ranking: 18
It feels a little bit like a dangerous time for the Mets as they’ve hit another rough patch and fallen way behind the Phillies and Braves in the division race. The offense continues to scuffle as only Brandon Nimmo, DJ Stewart and J.D. Martinez have an OBP over .325. Brett Baty hasn’t hit for much power, Jeff McNeil and Harrison Bader have just one home run each, Starling Marte is running a .300 OBP, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso are below their career norms and the catchers haven’t produced anything since Francisco Alvarez went on the IL. The pitching has arguably been better than expected, and Christian Scott looks like a nice addition to the rotation, but the lineup needs to get going. — Schoenfield
Record: 20-22
Previous ranking: 21
Yes, that’s the Nationals sitting 14th in the majors with a 3.97 rotation ERA — a huge improvement so far over last season, when they ranked 25th with a 5.02 ERA. The key has been home run suppression. Last year, only Rockies starters allowed more home runs. This year, Nationals starters have allowed 17, the fewest in the majors. Trevor Williams has allowed one in 41⅔ innings, MacKenzie Gore three in 40 innings and Jake Irvin four in 45⅔ innings. Even Patrick Corbin has allowed just four (although he has otherwise been hit hard). On offense, Eddie Rosario, struggling all season, broke out with a .467 average and three home runs last week to win NL Player of the Week honors. — Schoenfield
Record: 18-25
Previous ranking: 22
Houston has shown signs of halting an early-season downfall that threatened to turn into the kind of avalanche that would put an end to its AL West domination. But for the Astros to end up back where we are accustomed to finding them — in some late-October postseason series — they need their longtime stars to prove that their talents haven’t started to dim. No one exemplifies that need more than Alex Bregman, who through May 12 was hitting .201/.270/.264 with one homer in 159 plate appearances. We pick that cutoff date because of what Houston’s venerable third baseman did on May 13, going 3-for-3 with two homers, a double and a walk in a 9-2 thrashing of Oakland. In one fell sweep, Bregman raised his OPS from .534 to .615. The Astros need to see a lot more of that. — Doolittle
Record: 18-25
Previous ranking: 17
Signature wins have been tough to come by for the Reds this month, but they got one recently in Arizona when Hunter Greene threw seven solid innings while giving up just five hits and one walk in a 6-2 win. It’s what the doctor ordered considering all the injuries Cincinnati has endured. Greene really needs to be the man for the Reds if they have any chance to recover from the hole they’ve dug. He lowered his ERA to 3.27 after that outing to help stop the bleeding for his team, currently mired near the cellar in the division. — Rogers
Record: 19-25
Previous ranking: 23
The most exciting game of perhaps the season for the Pirates has to be the debut of Paul Skenes, last year’s No. 1 pick in the draft. Skenes went four innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven Cubs hitters. He looked great but his bullpen looked anything but as it walked eight batters including six with the bases loaded. The Pirates recovered from a seven-run fifth inning to win, thanks to five home runs by five different players. A signature win, indeed. — Rogers
Record: 20-25
Previous ranking: 25
The Giants walked off the Reds and clinched a series victory on Sunday, but grim news came with it: Jung Hoo Lee, their center fielder and leadoff hitter, crashed into the wall while chasing a Jeimer Candelario drive in the first inning and dislocated his left shoulder. He was placed on the IL the following day alongside fellow outfielders Michael Conforto, Austin Slater and Jorge Soler. An MRI then revealed that he suffered structural damage in the shoulder, and he’ll get a second opinion on Thursday. That’s four outfielders hurt, plus both catchers (Patrick Bailey and Tom Murphy) and an everyday shortstop (Nick Ahmed). The Giants don’t have the position-player depth to sustain this type of attrition. To be fair, few teams would. — Gonzalez
Record: 19-26
Previous ranking: 24
Depending on which advanced metric you look at, ninth-inning sensation Mason Miller has ranked as Oakland’s best player. When a short reliever leads a team in a value metric, it might say as much about the team as the player — but there is no doubting that Miller has been sensational. His work, along with some of his high-leverage cohorts, is the biggest reason why the A’s have spent much of the season playing a lot more respectable baseball than anticipated. On May 8, Miller threw two shutout innings against Texas in a 9-4 win. Though it wasn’t a save situation, it was a dominant, multi-inning outing that further bolstered the résumé of a pitcher who might emerge as the most tantalizing target as the trade deadline approaches in July. — Doolittle
Record: 18-25
Previous ranking: 26
An eight-run seventh inning against the Angels on Monday propelled St. Louis to its sweetest win in quite some time. Down 4-0 at the time, the Cardinals went on a tear, compiling seven hits in the inning to go along with three walks and a hit batter. Everything came together for them at the plate, something that hasn’t happened often for their offense this season. Perhaps it carried over to the next night when the Cardinals tallied seven more runs in another victory. Considering they rank near the bottom of MLB in OPS this year, any confidence boost could be huge. — Rogers
Record: 16-28
Previous ranking: 27
In baseball, most instances of bad news come with a silver lining. For the Angels, the primary beneficiary of Mike Trout‘s injury has been veteran Kevin Pillar. Pillar began the season with the wretched White Sox, a team so bereft of power bats that they used Pillar as a cleanup hitter five times. Prior to this season, he had started a game in the four-spot just five times during a big league career that began in 2013.
After Pillar rejected an outright assignment by Chicago and became a free agent, he latched on with an Angels squad desperate for bodies. Since then, Pillar has not just hit like a cleanup hitter, he’s kind of hit like Trout. In fact, manager Ron Washington has also used Pillar in the cleanup slot, including on May 13 when he hit a two-run homer against St. Louis. In 10 games as an Angel, he has hit .455 with three homers and 14 RBIs. Very Trout-like. — Doolittle
Record: 15-28
Previous ranking: 29
The Rockies went winless through their first 12 series during which they never once notched back-to-back victories. Then they won a series finale against the Giants, swept the defending champion Rangers and claimed claimed three consecutive victories in another sweep over the Padres, the last of which was an 8-0 win from Petco Park on Wednesday. It was, improbably, their seventh consecutive win, giving the Rockies their longest winning streak since 2019. The Rockies became the second team in major league history to win seven straight games after previously not winning even two straight all season (minimum 30 games played prior to the streak). The other, according to ESPN Stats & Information: The 1889 Indianapolis Hoosiers. — Gonzalez
Record: 14-30
Previous ranking: 30
Any one of three wins against the Guardians earlier this month could be considered Chicago’s best of the season considering each team’s record coming into the series. The Guardians were 23-14 while the White Sox were 9-28 before they took the first three games of a four-game series. In doing so, they gave up a total of six runs thanks to great production from their rotation and bullpen. Among the best performances was Garrett Crochet‘s 11 strikeouts over six innings in a 6-3 win. It propelled Crochet to the top of the AL in strikeouts while helping Chicago continue a win streak that stretched to four by Sunday. Alas, the sweep wasn’t in the cards as Cleveland salvaged the series finale 7-0. — Rogers
Record: 13-32
Previous ranking: 28
Before Tuesday’s 1-0 win in 10 innings over the Tigers, in which Ryan Weathers took a perfect game into the sixth and pitched eight scoreless innings for his best start, the Marlins had gone 2-8 over their previous 10 games with 71 runs allowed, including seven games where they allowed at least six runs. A.J. Puk is back from shoulder fatigue, but he’ll return to the bullpen after struggling to throw strikes in four starts to open the season as the Marlins tried to transition him to the rotation. Meanwhile, Marlins catchers are hitting .126/.163/.178. — Schoenfield
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Sports
Panthers one game away from another Cup Final: Grades, biggest takeaways from Game 3
Published
8 hours agoon
May 25, 2025By
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Multiple Contributors
May 24, 2025, 11:15 PM ET
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
0:53
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
0:44
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
Sports
Up 3-0, Panthers will not ‘start looking ahead’
Published
9 hours agoon
May 25, 2025By
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Greg WyshynskiMay 24, 2025, 11:35 PM ET
Close- Greg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.
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.”
Sports
Panthers’ Luostarinen ejected after check in 1st
Published
11 hours agoon
May 25, 2025By
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Greg WyshynskiMay 24, 2025, 09:25 PM ET
Close- Greg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.
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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