Open Thread: Game 1 Eastern Conference Final

The NHL is down to its final four teams and two of those from the Eastern Conference go head-to-head tonight to begin the battle to make the Stanley Cup final. The Carolina Hurricanes as the top seed from the Metropolitan Division should be the favorites in this matchup going against the Florida Panthers as the last wild card but anything goes after they defeated Atlantic Division rivals the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. Will scoring continue at the elevated pace or will a goaltending battle finally ensue? It should be an interesting series that could go the distance.

Top scorers for Carolina thus far have been Sebastian Aho and a more surprising Jordan Martinook, each with 10 points. But Carolina is a well-rounded deep team receiving multiple goals from 12 different players. Florida is receiving excellent goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky who has decided to be elite again and also is getting a big postseason performance from Matthew Tkachuk who already has 16 points through the first two rounds.

Follow along with the game in the comments below!