RECAP: Panthers 3, Oilers 0

SUNRISE, Fla. – You can sum up this game in just three letters.

Bob.

Led by a 32-save performance from Sergei Bobrovsky, the Florida Panthers opened the Stanley Cup Final with a 3-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Of Bobrovsky’s saves, 13 were considered high-danger, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

“Every win’s a big win, but it’s a long series,” said Bobrovsky, who pitched the NHL’s first shutout in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final since 2011. “We’re going to reset, refocus and get ready for the next fight.”

Setting a new franchise record, Bobrovsky also recorded his 13^th win of the playoffs.

“He was incredible tonight,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “He did everything for us.”

After waiting a week to get back on the ice, the Panthers got right to work.

Flying up the ice on a 3-on-2 rush, Aleksander Barkov set up Carter Verhaeghe for a backdoor goal with a beautiful cross-ice pass to make it 1-0 at 3:59 of the first period.

A key goal, the Panthers are 8-2 in the playoffs when scoring first.

“We’d been waiting to get after it for a while,” said Verhaeghe, who leads the team with a whopping 10 goals in the playoffs. “Obviously scoring first gets the crowd into it and gets us a little more comfortable. We like playing with the lead. We shut it down from there.”

From there, it was the Bobrovsky show.

By far his most-active period in quite some time, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner stopped all 14 shots he faced in the opening 20 minutes. His two biggest saves came against breakaways, including a robbery on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the penalty kill.

Per NaturalStatTrick.com, Bobrovsky had 1.27 goals saved above expected in the period.

“He’s just been unreal,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said.

Following another well-executed penalty kill at the start of the second period, the Panthers immediately flipped a switch, went on the offensive and doubled their lead when Rodrigues blasted a one-timer straight past Stuart Skinner’s glove from the slot to make it 2-0 at 2:16.

Teeing up the goal, Sam Bennett threaded a beautiful pass through a few Oilers.

In addition to that dish, the grizzled center also racked up a team-high 11 hits in the win.

“He played really well,” Tkachuk said of the man they call Playoff Sam. “I thought he was skating well and was physical when we needed to be. I think his greatest asset as a player is he’s so hard to play against. I’ve been lucky enough to not have to play against him a ton.”

Continuing to give the Oilers offense fits, Bobrovsky came up with another big save in the first few minutes of the third period, moving from left to right in the blink of an eye to rob Connor McDavid, who had a team-high six shots on goal in the loss, on a dangerous shot.

Playing their best hockey of the game, Florida allowed just seven shots in the third.

After pulling Skinner for the extra attacker with just over two minutes left in regulation, the Oilers managed to get just one shot and net and had two others blocked. Immediatley after one of those blocks, Eetu Luostarinen extended the lead to 3-0 with an empty-net goal at 19:09.

Even though they got the win, the Panthers know they can be even better in Game 2.

“We’re going to find out how much better we can get if we play our game,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “I understand why we have to operate in extremes. The idea that if we just play our game we’d win 7-0, right? No. They (the Oilers) played a very strong game. I thought they moved well and their transition game was really quick. We expected that. There’s areas of that where I think we can improve.”

THEY SAID IT

“Very impressed he (Sergei Bobrovsky) played tonight, especially early. He was really good and he was there for us.” – Matthew Tkachuk

“We definitely can be better. There’s always things we can improve on. After a week, we’ll take a win any way we can get it.” – Carter Verhaeghe

“That guy (Carter Verhaeghe) is a gamer. He’s truly on the puck.” – Paul Maurice

“I think everybody executed [on the penalty kill]. They protected the inside ice and did their job. That was really productive for us.” – Sergei Bobrovsky

CATS STATS

- The Panthers went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill while allowing just six shots on goal.

- The Panthers won 59.6% of their faceoffs.

- The Panthers led 63-35 in hits and 21-15 in blocked shots.

- Carter Verhaeghe’s 10 goals are one shy of the franchise record for a single postseason.

- The Panthers controlled 72.22% of shot attempts when Vladimir Tarasenko was on the ice at 5-on-5.

- Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 3.73 goals saved above expected, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Trying to take a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final before heading to Edmonton, the Panthers will host the Oilers for Game 2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday at 8 p.m. ET.

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