RALEIGH, N.C. — It’s one win in a series otherwise going resoundingly against them. The Carolina Hurricanes still face a long and improbable climb ahead against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

For now the reward from Monday’s sweep-averting road win is simply another chance to play — at home in tonight’s Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final.

“I don’t really think (mentality) changes if you’re up three or down three,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday. “Like, what, are you going to try harder? Everybody’s trying their hardest and everybody wants to win that next game.”

Carolina’s 3-0 win Monday night staved off elimination while ending a nasty conference-final losing streak (15 games dating to 2009). But playing on means keeping fleeting hope alive, even against a tested and deep champion.

Florida swept Carolina in the 2023 Eastern final with four one-goal wins that gave the Hurricanes reason to feel they were in it the whole way. This had been anything but, starting with the 5-2 loss in Game 1 followed by a 5-0 romp that drew frustrated chants from a rowdy-turned-despondent home crowd.

In Saturday’s Game 3, Florida turned a 1-1 game entering the third into a 6-2 win that moved them within a win of the Cup final.

Getting to closeout opportunities is not new for the Panthers, who won nine of their first 10 series under Paul Maurice.

Also not new: letting the first chance (or three, in one case) at that closeout win slip away. Monday’s loss dropped Florida’s record in potential closeout games since the start of the 2023 playoffs to just 9-8.

It begged this question of Maurice: Do the Panthers learn from those missed chances?

“I don’t believe in it,” Maurice said. “If it was just a learned thing, you’d be 16-0 every year. ... They were better at their game than we were at our game. We’ve managed to not have that happen very often.”

There’s been at least one promising development for Carolina in the play of its youngsters, forward Logan Stankoven and defenseman Alexander Nikishin.

The 22-year-old Stankoven has scored in two straight games and is tied for second on the team with five playoff goals. His Game 4 winner came off a nifty feed from the 23-year-old Nikishin, marking the first NHL point for a top blue-line prospect pressed into action due to injuries.