Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be keeping his own blog throughout the 2024 Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers. He will check in regularly with behind-the-scenes access.
In his second entry, Nugent-Hopkins discusses his emotions before the Oilers’ 3-0 loss in Game 1, seeing the Stanley Cup on the ice before the puck drop, what he will do on the off day Sunday and how the Oilers need to rebound in Game 2 on Monday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).
There were definitely more nerves than usual before the game. I mean, with so many days off to think about it and I mean, there's going to be nerves on both sides, but I definitely felt a little more than usual. But once you get out there, you feel better. I mean, you prepare the same way.
The atmosphere was awesome. Obviously, we came up short tonight, but excited to get back at it for Game 2.
Once the puck drops, it feels like another game, for sure. I mean, the first puck drop was a little different. They bring out the Cup. That was a cool moment. But yeah, once you get into it, it definitely feels like a regular game.
I thought overall we played a pretty good game. We held tight to our system and our structure, and it was kind of two quick breaks for them that they scored on and we couldn’t solve Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
At the end of the day, it's going to happen. It's a seven-game series. We have six more games to win four. We've done it all year.
We've done it throughout the playoffs. So, I mean obviously the next one's a big one. You want to get the first one, but our confidence shouldn’t waver.
As for Sunday, I’m not sure if we will come down to practice or if will be day off. There will be just a lot of recovery stuff. Stay at the hotel, obviously down here in Florida try to stay out of the sun as much as possible. Just a lot of rest, recovery, probably meet, have a couple of meetings and then go from there.
