RALEIGH, N.C. —

The horn sounded to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, and the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs.

“I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It's all business and we've got a bigger goal in mind.”

The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games Wednesday night with a 5-3 victory in the Eastern Conference final, pushing ahead for good when Carter Verhaeghe broke a tie off a feed from Aleksander Barkov with 7:39 left.

Florida beat the Hurricanes i

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