The Florida Panthers have mastered the art of dirty play |

21/05/2025 17:57 -

Much of the Panthers brilliance is defined by their ability to bend the rules.

The Florida Panthers are dirty. They're dirty as hell. Not only does the team play dirty, but embrace dirty in a way we haven't seen in the modern era. In doing so the organization has carved out the perfect niche for postseason hockey, preying on playoff referee leniency to infuriate opponents, rattle inexperienced players, and turn cheering opposing fans apoplectic.

This was on full display Tuesday night as the Panthers cruised to a relatively easy 5-2 win over the Hurricanes in Raleigh with the home team shooting itself in the foot numerous time. Carolina brought physicality, but were not prepared to be met with dirty — it was like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Florida set the tone for the game early with a perfectly-timed cross check on Sebastian Aho while the ref was looking away, which led to Aho retaliating just as the referee's attention was on him, getting two in the box for roughing as a result. This led to a power play goal to open the game, and it was off to the races from there.

This is what the Florida Panthers do. It's one of their defining features, and if you're an old-school hockey fan, then you love it. They bring overt physicality from puck drop, get inside their opponents' heads, and at that point they've already won. Carolina statistically dominated most areas on Tuesday night: They had more shots, won 60% of faceoffs, and had a bigger share of puck control in the offensive zone — but none of that matters without quality, and there were precious few occasions where the Canes were able to generate quality shots on net without simply throwing it at Sergei Bobrovsky and hoping for a lucky bounce.

Florida was called for seven penalties in game one, with Brad Marchand being ejected in the third period for misconduct after he took a run at Shayne Gostisbehere. While seven penalties is a high amount, the Panthers were allowed to get away with at least 10 more than were never caught, or simply ignored by officials as being part of playoff hockey. From slashes and hooks, to cross checks and boarding, Game 1 was all about seeing what the officials would let them get away with — and it was a lot.

This is the feedback loop the Panthers prey on. They see how far the refs will let them press the dirty button, and let up right at the point where it will impact their ability to play hockey with penalties. There's discipline inside their chaos, and it's aimed on ensuring their opponents become too emotionally charged to play fundamental hockey. This is the perfect strategy against a team like Carolina, which prides itself on fundamental play. Numerous times on Tuesday night the shape of the Canes offense shattered, pass targets were out of position, and quality shots were passed up — all because players became more concerned with getting a hit in on the Panthers than playing their brand of hockey.

It was especially prevalent in front of the net where the Panthers developed the frankly brilliant strategy of routinely pushing Canes players into Bobrovsky, then appealing to the refs that their goaltender was interfered with. It never materialized in penalties, but was clearly infuriating the Hurricanes' forwards, causing them to think twice about crashing the net as they have done so effectively these playoffs.

The Hurricanes will need to make a mammoth adjustment in Game 2 in order to keep themselves in this series. A massive problem on Tuesday night was the decision to put an inexperienced, out-of-his-depth Scott Morrow into the defensive lineup, which directly resulted in four goals for Florida as he was caught screening Freddie Anderson on one goal, out of position on another, giving up a mindless power play resulting in a third, and finally another defensive miscue on a fourth.

Beyond that the team has to find a way to stick to their brand of hockey without getting baited into playing the Panthers' game. Carolina can not match Florida's dirty style of play and win this series, because it hasn't been practiced or honed. Like Bane, the Panthers were molded by the darkness, and anything the Canes try to do is a cheap facsimile.

If Carolina keeps getting infuriated by the Panthers this will be another series sweep, because Florida is the Ric Flair of the NHL — the dirtiest players in the game, and you can't help but love them for it.