Miami Heat Come Home, Dominate Celtics. Florida Panthers Up Next

The run these Miami Heat and Florida Panthers have been on through this shared postseason have many similarities, starting with both were the No. 8 seed when they started.

Of course, Miami should have been hire but a play-in loss to Atlanta knocked them down a peg.

Regardless, the two teams are sharing a number of stories from big-time players (Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Matthew Tkachuk, Sasha Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky) stepping up in the biggest moments.

The Heat and Panthers have also been very good away from home.

Both teams led their respective Eastern Conference finals 2-0 after winning in Boston and Raleigh.

On Sunday, the Heat came home to downtown Miami and kept things rolling with a blowout 128-102 with over the Celtics.

“That was humiliating,” said Charles Barkley, who is expected to be in attendance tonight when the Panthers come home to Sunrise.

The Heat are now a win away from playing in their seventh NBA Finals — winning it in 2006, 2012 and 2013 — which would make them just the second No. 8 seed to play for it all.

Florida is 2-3 at home in this postseason but won Game 3 against the Maple Leafs to take a 3-0 lead in the East semis and are looking to do the same tonight at 8 on TNT.

The Panthers remain two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final.

Monday night is the first-ever Eastern Conference finals game held in Sunrise.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW

The Panthers have been killing it on the road but are happy to be in the friendly confines of Broward County after leaving Raleigh on Sunday morning.

The Panthers went 1-1 against Toronto at home in the last round and would like to improve on that this week. Game 3 tonight, Game 4 on Wednesday.

— Florida has had its share of problems on special teams this postseason and Carolina’s penalty kill have been giving the Panthers fits. Until overtime on Saturday. The Panthers have one power play goal against the Hurricanes, but it was a biggie.

— Talking about the Panthers on 7 Sports Xtra following the Heat game.

— The Panthers are in control of this series after winning the first two in Raleigh but know there is still plenty of work to be done.

— Matthew Tkachuk continues to come up big in the biggest moments for the Panthers this postseason.

— Need some new Panthers gear for the playoffs? Check out Caneswear in Davie. No, they don’t sell anything with Carolina on it.

— Panther Pourri is back with a postgame show featuring Josh Appel who is taking a break from his duties at Marlins Park to watch some hockey.

— That second-period goal from Sasha Barkov is still the talk of the NHL. We have, however, seen him do it before. Video of both goals on the story. They are worth the watch.

— Brandon Montour was flying in the fourth overtime period on Friday morning despite skating close to 9 miles during that marathon of a game. Montour said he felt pretty good — and the Panthers have been impressed by him all season long.

— The Panthers and Hurricanes both took Friday off after their game ended at 1:54 a.m. on Friday. Both teams needed the rest going into Game 2.

—  The Panthers needed a hero in the fourth overtime on Friday and Tkachuk answered the call. No one wanted to sit through another intermission and play a fifth overtime after all. Tkachuk’s goal came with 12.7 seconds left before that fifth OT would have been needed.

— Sergei Bobrovsky is a big reason for these wins. He had himself another huge game, stopping 63 shots to put himself in the NHL record book.

— Members of the 1996 Florida Panthers know their spot in franchise history is secure so they have been waiting for another team to make a deep run in the playoffs.

— So, why do teams from South Florida share their names with teams from North Carolina?

— A LOT of video is up on the FHN YouTube Channel including Game 2 postgame reaction from Paul Maurice, Sergei Bobrovsky, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Sasha Barkov.

There is also off-day video from Maurice, Nick Cousins and Josh Mahura. More from morning skate later today.

To see all the videos, you can click the embedded videos below or head directly to the FHN YouTube Channel RIGHT HERE to see everything all in one place.

If you hit subscribe (it’s free), you will know when new content comes up.

NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW

Hey, it’s not just the Eastern Conference finals going to overtime every night.

On Sunday, the Vegas Golden Knights went up 2-0 on the visiting Stars as they won in OT for the second consecutive game to open this series.

Chandler Stephenson is the man of the hour.

— A Take from Boston: As was the case with Tkachuk and the Boston Bruins, Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler has been cooking dinner in the collective kitchen of the Boston Celtics.

— The Montreal Canadiens have the fifth overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. Who are they looking at?

— Dan MacKinnon could be a name to watch when it comes to the Pittsburgh Penguins and their GM search.

— Anaheim is looking for a coach and Philadelphia Flyers assistant Brad Shaw should be in the running.

— Of the four playoff teams remaining, who could be a good fit for the Colorado Avalanche?

— The Calgary Flames have a new GM: Hello, Craig Conroy.

FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

CAROLINA HURRICANES (MET1) AT PANTHERS (WC2) 

GAME 3 (Panthers Lead 2-0)

• When: Monday, 8 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
• TV: TNT
  
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM, WPOW 95.6 FM2, WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• Series Schedule — Game 1: Florida 3, @Carolina 2; Game 2: Florida 2, @Carolina 1 (OT); Game 3: Monday at Florida, 8 (TNT); Game 4: Wednesday at Florida, 8 (TNT); Game 5*: Friday at Carolina, 8 (TNT); Game 6*: Sunday, May 28 at Florida, 8 (TNT); Game 7*: Tuesday, May 30 at Carolina, 8 (TNT). *If Necessary
• Season Series: (Carolina won 2-1): @Florida 3, Carolina 0 (Nov.9);@Carolina 4, Florida 0 (Dec. 30); Carolina 6, @Florida 4 (April 13)
• All-Time Regular Season Series: Carolina/Hartford leads 71-46-10, 11 ties
• Postseason History: First Meeting
• How They Got Here — Carolina: d. New York Islanders in 6; d. New Jersey Devils in 5. Florida: d. Boston Bruins in 7; d. Toronto Maple Leafs in 5.