Carter Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad scored two tone-setting first-period goals while Sergei Bobrovsky remained strong in net as the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 in Tuesday night’s opener of their Eastern Conference final series at Raleigh, N.C.

A.J. Greer added a goal by finishing off a perfect 2-on-1 transition chance in the second period for Florida, while Sam Bennett added a third-period score that erased any lingering doubt — only to see Eetu Luostarinen added another one late to make it 5-1 and keep pouring it on.

Bobrovsky held up with 31 saves, including during a stretch in which the Panthers failed to get a shot on goal for more than 15 minutes spanning the second intermission. It came 48 hours after the Panthers had beaten Toronto in a road Game 7 to advance and set up a rematch of the Eastern final from two years ago.

Florida swept that one with four one-goal margins, including Game 1 in four overtimes. And just as before, the Panthers have immediately ripped home-ice advantage from a team that was 5-0 at home in these playoffs.

Sebastian Aho tallied Carolina’s lone score when the outcome was in doubt, with Seth Jarvis’ pass banging off Aho’s right skate to slide under Bobrovsky in the dying seconds of the first to make it 2-1. But Florida got Greer’s finish off a backhand feed from Niko Mikkola to beat Frederik Andersen to push the margin back to two goals early in the second.

Andersen had been elite in the postseason, but found himself alone with Verhaeghe at the edge of the crease for a quick power-play goal that beat him to the upper right corner. He was later shielded by Brad Marchand on Bennett’s score, which fittingly ended the 15-minute stretch without a shot on goal.

Those both came with the man advantage, a glaring stat against Carolina’s penalty kill that had been the postseason’s best by allowing two goals through two rounds.

Jackson Blake scored a late goal for Carolina in a finish that included Marchand being tossed for a game-misconduct penalty — including being escorted off by an official while shouting back toward center ice — after a fight with Carolina’s Shayne Gostisbehere.

The loss marked Carolina’s 13th straight in a conference final, going back being swept in 2009, 2019 and 2023.

Game 2 is back at Carolina on Thursday night.

Gretzky visited Stars locker room

Wayne Gretzky was in the Dallas Stars locker room congratulating them after they advanced to their third consecutive Western Conference final, where they will face the franchise with which “The Great One” was a four-time Stanley Cup champion.

“He said we’re going up against a pretty good team now,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said Tuesday, the day before hosting Game 1 against Edmonton. “And I had to ask him who he was cheering for. It felt right, and he didn’t answer, obviously.”

Benn said it was “pretty cool” that Gretzky visited the Stars after their 2-1 overtime win Saturday night over Winnipeg that set up a West final rematch against the Oilers.

Edmonton won the West final over the Stars in six games last year, then lost to Florida in a seven-game Stanley Cup Finals.

“What a great honor to have the greatest player of all time come down after the game and say hello,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said.