2024 Stanley Cup Final
Florida Panthers Must Prove Their Resiliency Once Again
Saturday night was rough for the Florida Panthers, but they are far from being in trouble in the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers.
Coach Paul Maurice said he doesn’t believe in momentum, so he considers Saturday’s debacle a loss but not a complete tidal reversal.
The Panthers are famous for their resiliency.
Go back to the Boston series, which started with a horrendous 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Bruins and was followed by a decisive 6-1 win by Florida.
The Panthers refrained from gloating when they were up 3-0 against the Oilers.
Edmonton realizes it has won only one game and that it has a lot of work to do to overcome a 3-1 series deficit.
“It’s just one win,” Connor McDavid said. “That’s all it is. It doesn’t matter if you score eight or you score one. We have to go to Florida and do a job and drag them back to Alberta.”
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Edmonton has not had much success in Sunrise this season, losing the first two playoff games and the regular season contest.
As they say in the stock market, past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The Oilers had a more than ample supply of “good looks” during their losses.
On Saturday, the posts, misses, and Sergei Bobrovsky acrobatics didn’t go Florida’s way; everything worked for Edmonton.
“We’ve had lots of looks over the first four games,” Leon Draisaitl said.
“Certainly created enough to have a couple go in but it’s just not the way the game works sometimes. I’m proud of the way we always stick with it and continue to work at it and stay work-based. Hopefully we can build off that a little bit.”
The first defensive breakdown came on the Panthers’ first power play.
With four forwards hovering near the Edmonton goal, Brandon Montour was left alone to attempt to stop a two-on-one, which led to Mattias Janmark’s shorthanded goal.
It was downhill from there.
Florida’s power play is now an anemic 1-for-13 in the series, including relinquishing the shorty. They are still ahead of Edmonton’s 1-16.
Power play shots were even at 11 Saturday, even though Florida had four power plays and Edmonton six.
There is a minor positive in that stat.
On Sunday, Maurice’s simple analysis was, “They got to us off the rush in a big way.”
Perhaps an understatement.
Maurice said he would review the videos, looking for a theme, and then work on correcting them.
No lineup changes are contemplated as of now, but they are not ruled out after reviewing the video.
He said his players were in a better mood in the morning but part of his job as coach is to “keep the emotional band narrow.”
On Tuesday night, the Cup will be in their house.
It is the first time in the team’s history that they can clinch before the home fans.
Part of the hockey culture is to have amnesia when dwelling on past mistakes.
Maurice says his team will be ready.
Bobrovsky is a seasoned professional; He should be ready.
Sunrise will be rocking when the puck drops on Game 5 Tuesday night.
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2024 STANLEY CUP FINAL
EDMONTON OILERS VS. FLORIDA PANTHERS
GAME 5
Panthers Lead Best of 7 Series 3-1
- When: Tuesday, 8 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- National TV: ABC
- Streaming: ESPN+/Hulu
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
- Series Schedule, All Games 8 p.m. on ABC — Game 1: @Florida 3, Edmonton 0; Game 2: @Florida 4, Edmonton 1; Game 3: Florida 4, @Edmonton 3; Game 4: @Edmonton 8, Florida 1; Game 5: Edmonton at Florida, Tuesday; Game 6*: Florida at Edmonton, Friday; Game 7*:Edmonton at Florida, Monday June 24. (*) – If Necessary
- How They Got Here — Florida: d. Tampa Bay 4-1, Boston 4-2, New York Rangers 4-2; Edmonton: d. Los Angeles 4-1, Vancouver 4-3, Dallas 4-2.
- This Season (Florida Won 2-0) — At Florida: Panthers 5, Oilers 3 (Nov. 20). At Edmonton: Panthers 5, Oilers 2 (Dec. 17).
- Last Season: Edmonton Won 2-0
- All-time Regular Season Series: Oilers lead 23-16-0, 3 ties
- Postseason History: First Meeting