SUNRISE, Fla. >> Frederik Andersen returned to the net and stopped 20 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, Logan Stankoven got the only goal Carolina needed and the Hurricanes won their first Eastern Conference finals game in 20 years by beating the Florida Panthers 3-0 on Monday night to stave off elimination.

Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal got empty-netters to seal it for the Hurricanes. They had dropped 15 consecutive East finals games, getting swept in 2009, 2019 and 2023, then dropping the first three games of this matchup.

No sweep this time, however. Carolina still trails the series 3-1, but that looks a whole lot better than 3-0 does. The Hurricanes kept the Panthers’ offense completely bottled up for much of the game, limiting the reigning Stanley Cup champions to 12 shots through two periods.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for Florida, which played without the injured Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and A.J. Greer.

The win was Carolina’s first in an East finals game since beating Buffalo in Game 7 in 2006, which came on the Hurricanes’ way to the Stanley Cup.