3 Keys: Golden Knights at Panthers, Game 4 of Stanley Cup Final

Vegas must keep focus; Florida needs special teams success in bid to even series

By Dan Rosen

@drosennhl NHL.com Senior Writer

June 10, 2023

Golden Knights at Panthers

Stanley Cup Final, Game 4

Vegas leads best-of-7 series, 2-1

8 p.m. ET; TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers have a chance to hold serve on home ice to even the Stanley Cup Final at two games apiece when they host the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.

Vegas won Games 1 and 2 at home, 5-2 and 7-2, respectively. Florida responded with a 3-2 come-from-behind win in Game 3 at home Thursday, thanks to forward Matthew Tkachuk's tying goal with 2:13 remaining in the third period and forward Carter Verhaeghe's winner 4:27 into overtime.

"It's so loud in the building and we love playing at home," Verhaeghe said. "To get the win at home was really nice to hear the building explode, which was awesome."

Road teams were 46-37 in the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including Florida at 8-1 and Vegas at 6-2, but that trend has not carried into the Cup Final.

The home team hasn't won the first four games in the Stanley Cup Final since 2017 (Pittsburgh Penguins, Nashville Predators). It has happened 13 times.

"We feel pretty comfortable," Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. "Every ice sheet is the same. Obviously, there's a few different bounces on different sheets, but we feel pretty comfortable. We liked a lot of what we did (in Game 3). We were playing a pretty great game. ... Give them credit, they found a way to get a goal and win in overtime, but there's a lot of things we liked, we just have to stick to it and capitalize."

Rosen, Gulitti, Myers preview Game 4 of Cup Final

Teams with a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final have won the series 97.3 percent of the time (36-1).

Here are 3 keys to Game 4:

1. Panthers need to be special

Florida's special teams have been an issue through the first three games of the Final. They have been outscored 6-1, with the lone goal coming short-handed in Game 1.

The Panthers are 0-for-12 on the power play and 11-for-17 on the penalty kill (64.7 percent) against the Golden Knights.

Coach Paul Maurice said he liked the way Florida played at even strength in Game 3. It outscored Vegas 3-0 at 5-on-5, but the power play and penalty kill needed adjustments.

"I think we're kind of forcing plays a little bit," Verhaeghe said of the power play.

2. Stay the course

A loss in Game 3 should not deter the Golden Knights from feeling that they're playing the right way and in control of the series.

They're happy with their performance through most of the series, lamenting only a struggle to get their legs going in the first period of Game 3, not building on the 2-1 lead they held and leaving Tkachuk open in front of the net in the 6-on-5 situation late in the third period.

For much of that they can just tip their cap to the Panthers, specifically goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with the help of the crossbar behind him that forward Ivan Barbashev hit with a shot off a 2-on-1 with 4:18 remaining in the third period of Game 3. Otherwise, the Golden Knights should not tinker too much with what they've done, because for the most part, it has worked.

"We're not going to change," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We don't need to."

3. Keep firing, Panthers

The Panthers had a combined 66 shots in Games 1 and 2, and lost each. They had 23 shots in Game 3 and won. But that doesn't mean less is more in the shot department for them. In fact, it's the opposite.

Florida had 31 shots blocked by the Golden Knights and they missed the net on 21 more, giving them a total of 75 shot attempts. So they were shooting, but their game-tying goal and the overtime goal were examples of why getting it on net matters.

Verhaeghe's shot from the point led to the rebound that allowed Tkachuk to tie the game. Then, Verhaeghe's quick wrist shot from above the hash marks found its way into the net.

"We've got to put ourselves in those situations to get good shots and get them through," Verhaeghe said. "They're a really good team at blocking pucks and I think that's definitely an area we need to get better at, getting pucks through. Any time you put it on net it has a chance, creates chaos and you can get a lot of broken plays too."