The home team started best and had 2–0 before the second period. In the middle act, the guests made sure to play themselves up significantly with three straight goals.
Carolina managed to equalize in period three, but Carter Verhaeghe gave last year's champions Florida the lead again with barely eight minutes left before Sam Bennett nailed the final result in an empty net.
Swedish Florida goalie Gustav Forsling is one of the players who now gets to play the final again.
It's still nothing you take for granted, it feels incredibly big, says Forsling to Sportbladet.
Florida's team captain Aleksander Barkov notes that the team has found a winning concept after making it to the final for the third year in a row.
I mean, last year it worked. This year the same thing. This is where you want to be as a hockey player, you want to play the Stanley Cup, and now we're here for the third year in a row. It's a big achievement, but we all know that we're here to win the big wins, says Barkov according to ESPN.
Even the team's forward star Matthew Tkachuk notes that regardless of who they face in the final, they have the habit.
It was really different three years ago, then everything was new to us. Whoever we get to meet, we're ready for them, he says.
And Gustav Forsling agrees with that.
We'll watch the game on TV, but it doesn't matter to us who we meet. We're just focused on winning again.
The final series may very well become a replay of last year's title match. Edmonton, their opponent that time, is leading their semifinal against Dallas 3–1 in matches. The two teams will meet in the fifth duel on Friday Swedish time.
