Panthers vs Hurricanes May Be NHL’s Most Underrated Rivalry

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes have played each other in the Eastern Conference finals in two of the past three seasons yet it seems to be a rivalry which never truly materialized even if all the ingredients are there.

Not only are these two of the top teams in the NHL, but they once shared the Southeast Division and had some pretty big battles against one another.

While not all that close geographically, both are in non-traditional markets but have created quite a following in their respective regions.

Perhaps the biggest ingredient, is bad blood.

There does, perhaps quietly, appear to be some dislike between the two teams.

Part of that is shared history: Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour played under Paul Maurice in Raleigh, the many games these two teams have played, etc.

One reason Maurice does not think the NHL community at large gets hot and bothered over this matchup is because their games have been more about the hockey and not the extra circulars.

Yes, the Panthers and Hurricanes get after it when they drop the puck, but there is no inherent hatred as we have seen in Florida series with Boston, for instance, or Tampa Bay.

“It’s just hockey right?” said Maurice, who got his NHL start as a coach with the Hartford Whalers and moved with the team to North Carolina in 1997.

Of Maurice’s 1,966 NHL games coached, 920 came in parts of 13 seasons with the Whalers/Hurricanes.

“The driver of our rivalry is an unusual series that was a 4-0 sweep but there was probably 8 seconds separating the two teams. It was so close, and so hard, both teams had so many chances. It’s just the hockey. It never felt that series got to a level of meanness that some of the other ones have. And, this will shock some people and some up north won’t agree, but both teams are very disciplined in how they play.”

Brind’Amour, who was captain of the Hurricanes during Maurice’s original run as coach there, seemed to agreed with Maurice on that subject at least.

“That’s definitely how we go about our business,” he said. “I can’t speak for other teams and how they go about it, but when you are in the playoffs, it’s tough not to play that way and have success.”

Florida and Carolina met for the first time in the playoffs in 2023 when the Panthers swept the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final, depriving them of a shot at the Stanley Cup.

Carolina finished first in the Metropolitan Division that season and second overall in the NHL.

The losses were excruciatingly close.

The teams opened in Carolina with the famous game that ended with a Matthew Tkachuk goal at 19:47 of the fourth overtime. It was the longest game ever played by the Panthers.

The Hurricanes were still reeling two nights later when Tkachuk ended the game at 1:51 of overtime.

Things didn’t get better in Florida. In Game 3, Sergei Bobrovsky threw a 1-0 shutout.

The final insult came in Game 4 when Tkachuk ended it with a goal with 5 seconds left in regulation to break a 3-3 tie and send the Panthers to the Final against Vegas.

All four games were decided by one goal leading Brind’Amour to famously say “the unfortunate part of this is we’re going to look back and everyone’s going to say we got swept and that’s not what happened.”

In 2025, Carolina won a game in the ECF but the Panthers completely controlled the series in 5, outscoring the Hurricanes 21-10.

That led to Maurice and Brind’Amour disagreeing about the coach’s role in the handshake line — one that Brind’Amour conceded in the moment to Maurice’s way of handling it.

The two coaching staffs shook hands near the bench and let the players do it on the ice.

Afterward, Brind’Amour said if it happens again, he’s going out there.

“Moving forward, I think I’ll probably go back to it just because it’s a sign of respect. That’s the way I look at it,’’ Brind’Amour said. “We’re not out there on the ice battling, but we’re right in there with these guys. He won, so I kind of went, ‘OK, I’m going to follow your lead in that.’ But I do think it’s important, to me anyway, to show respect to the players.”

The Panthers and Hurricanes played another installment of their series on Friday in Sunrise.

The two go at it again tonight in Raleigh after the Hurricanes had a thoroughly miserable two-game road trip to Florida.

They came to Sunrise on Friday riding a five-game win streak, then helped the Panthers’ make history by blowing a three-goal lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the contest, leading to the Panthers’ shootout win.

After a loss like that most players welcome the opportunity to get right back on the ice to avenge for the loss.

It didn’t work that way.

The following night, Carolina was in Tampa Bay and built another three-goal lead in the first period — only to lose 6-4.

It was Tampa Bay’s first three-goal comeback in over four years.

Brind’Amour had little to say to the media following the loss in Sunrise, his postgame briefing lasting less than a minute.

“Obviously you should have won the game when you have a three-goal lead,” Brind’Amour said. “The details weren’t very good. We were kind of cheating for that next one and instead of us doing it right, it cost us a point.”

If the loss wasn’t costly enough, Carolina also lost the services of Seth Jarvis, who crashed into the left post during the overtime. According to Brind’Amour, he is week-to-week with an upper body injury and will not play tonight against the Panthers.

Carolina placed him in injured reserve and recalled Bradley Nadeau from the AHL Chicago Wolves.

Brind’Amour was not any happier after the loss in Tampa — where defenseman Jaccob Slavin was also lost to injury.

“We come out in the second and just lay an egg, really. It was terrible,’’ Brind’Amour said. “We kind of got what we deserved. Mentally you can feel that we just weren’t sharp. You see the turnovers we made. Just stupid plays that you can’t win hockey games doing.”

Despite the losses in Florida, Carolina still leads the Eastern Conference in points and is fourth overall in the NHL.

If there is anything certain tonight it will be that the Hurricanes will not be in the Christmas spirit.

Look for a tough battle.

ON DECK: GAME No. 36

FLORIDA PANTHERS at CAROLINA HURRICANES

• When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. 
• Where: Lenovo Center; Raleigh, NC
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Series Schedule (Florida Leads 1-0) — At Florida: Panthers 4, Hurricanes 3 SO (Friday). At Carolina: Tuesday; Jan. 16 
• Last Regular Season: Panthers Won 2-1
• All-Time Regular Season Series: Carolina/Hartford leads 74-50-10, 11 ties
• Postseason History: Florida 2-0 (d. Carolina in 2023 ECF in 4; 2025 ECF in 5)