SUNRISE, Fla. – With a chance to race out to a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final, the Florida Panthers will host the Edmonton Oilers for Game 2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.
Historically, teams that have gone up 2-0 in the Final have won 49 of 54 series.
“You always want to win the next game,” Panthers forward Kevin Stenlund said. “That’s the most important thing. We’ll focus on this game, try and win this, and then go from there.”
In Game 1, Sergei Bobrovsky stole the show.
With a chorus of “Bob-by!” chants following nearly every single one of his saves, the 35-year-old veteran stopped all 32 shots that he faced to backstop the Panthers to a 3-0 win.
Of those saves, a whopping 13 were considered high-danger, including a pair of breakaway robberies on Oilers forwards Adam Henrique and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the first period.
For those paying attention, those highlight-reel stops didn’t come as a surprise.
Of goaltenders with at least five appearances in this year’s playoffs, Bobrovsky ranks second in high-danger saves (116) and first in high-danger save percentage (.872), according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
“He’s just been unreal,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said.
Giving the Panthers the only goal they’d end up needing thanks to Bobrovsky’s heroics, the top line got it done for the Panthers when Aleksander Barkov set up Carter Verhaeghe for a backdoor goal on a 3-on-2 rush to break the ice and make it 1-0 at 3:59 of the first period.
“Any time you get the first goal in a game, it’s huge,” Verhaeghe said.
Not long after a clutch penalty kill by the Panthers early in the second period, Evan Rodrigues teed up a pass from Sam Bennett and blasted a blistering one-timer past Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner from the slot to double Florida’s advantage to 2-0 at 2:16.
With five seconds left in regulation and the Oilers on a 6-on-5 advantage after pulling Skinner, Eetu Luostarinen blocked a point shot from Evan Bouchard, took a pass from Barkov and fired the puck into the abandoned cage to lock in the 3-0 win.
Despite not getting any goals past Bobrovsky, the Oilers were generally happy with their game, leading 70-42 in shot attempts and 18-6 in high-danger shot attempts in defeat.
That being said, the Panthers, as usual, got better as the game went on and held Edmonton to just seven shots on goal in the third period, including just one after Skinner was pulled.
“Game 1 is a little bit of feeling out,” said Verhaeghe, who’s scored a team-high 10 goals in the playoffs. “I think it’s going to be a bigger challenge [in Game 2]. They’re going to bring their best. It’s for us to kind of battle them. We have a lot better to our game, I think.”
Across the ice, all eyes will be on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl once again.
In Game 1, Edmonton’s dynamic duo looked dangerous, but couldn’t get anything past Bobrovsky. Combining for 10 of Edmonton’s 32 shots on goal, McDavid (25:19) and Draisaitl (23:14) also played some heavy minutes compared to the rest of their teammates.
McDavid, a three-time winner of the Hart Trophy, has not gone more than one game without getting at least one point in these playoffs, posting eight points (two goals, six assists) in the four games following games in which he did not record a point.
As always, the goal is to limit the damage from Edmonton’s big guns.
“This is another caliber,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “The idea of shutting them down isn’t realistic. I’ll say the same thing any coach will tell you: limit time and space.”
While the Panthers plan to roll with the same lineup, the Oilers could be making at least one change.
Based on the rumblings coming out of Edmonton’s morning skate, defenseman Vincent Desharnais could potentially be replacing Cody Ceci on the blue line. Desharnais, who’s played in 15 games these playoffs, last played in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final.
Ceci, who’s in his third season with the Oilers, has never been a healthy scratch before.
Stay tuned for more updates closer to puck drop.
PANTHERS PLAYOFF LEADERS
Goals: Verhaeghe (10)
Assists: Tkachuk (14)
Points: Barkov, Tkachuk (19)
Hits: Bennett (64)
Blocks: Ekblad (35)
OILERS PLAYOFF LEADERS
Goals: Hyman (14)
Assists: McDavid (26)
Points: McDavid (31)
Hits: Kane (64)
Blocks: Nurse (47)
THEY SAID IT
“Those two (Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart) are special players. They make such good plays and they’re easy to read off. We’ve developed some pretty good chemistry.” – Carter Verhaeghe
“I think we (the fourth line) played decent. The whole team will play a little better tonight, but other than that it was a decent game from our line. I think we forechecked hard and tried to be in the zone as much as possible.” – Kevin Stenlund
“We want to build. We want to have good first and second periods as well, but we want to keep building every single period and be at our best at the end of the game. It’s all about hard work, keep grinding and believing.” – Aleksander Barkov
FIVE CATS STATS
- Sergei Bobrovsky has an active shutout streak of 61:40.
- The Panthers have not trailed since the second period of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final.
- Eight different Panthers have registered at least 10 points this postseason.
- The Panthers have won each of their last three playoff games on home ice.
- Gustav Forsling is tied for first in the NHL with a +13 rating in this postseason.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Matthew Tkachuk – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Vladimir Tarasenko
Steven Lorentz – Kevin Stenlund – Kyle Okposo
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
- May 6: F Patrick Giles recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Monday, June 10 at 8 p.m. ET
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
TV & Streaming: ABC, ESPN+
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 92.1 WZZR (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM Channel 219 / App & Streaming 932; Panthers App
Tickets: Here
For pre-game concert information, visit *FloridaPanthers.com/PlayoffCentral*.
