FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Carolina Hurricanes would’ve taken a win in any fashion, but how they earned in one in South Florida on Monday mattered.
Success in anything is rooted in confidence, and lucking out in Game 4 — after flunking and being outscored 16-4 through the first three games — wouldn’t have established any of it for the Hurricanes going back to Raleigh.
Instead, they put the first building block in place by earning Monday’s win and establishing their game for the first time in this series.
As Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov put it after his team’s 3-0 loss, “the other team needs to show up and have their best game, and I think Carolina did today.”
Had the Hurricanes not come close, there’d be far more doubt they’d left their worst one behind them.