Sam Bennett had two goals and an assist, Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves, and the Florida Panthers suffocated the Carolina Hurricanes defensively in a 5-0 win in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday.

After a dismal 5-0 loss in Game 2, another sweep appears more likely than not now that the Hurricanes have lost six straight playoff games to the Panthers.

The Panthers flat-out dominated the Hurricanes on Thursday, cruising to a 5-0 win to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series with a spot in a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final at stake.

Each one has been worse than the last, but the first five were nowhere near as bad as what happened Thursday, when for the first time against the Panthers in the conference final Carolina looked flustered, overwhelmed and outmatched.

Again, the Carolina Hurricanes should be embarrassed by what went down in Raleigh tonight. It's one thing to get beaten. It's another thing entirely to get beaten like they did with barely any shots on goal or semblances of defense.

A savvy use of limited cap space over the summer and the quick exit from the Mikko Rantanen disaster turned what might have been a step backward into another step forward.

The Carolina Hurricanes have not won an Eastern Conference final game in their last 13 tries. Can they snap that streak on Thursday night when they host the Florida Panthers for Game 2 at the Lenovo Center?