Panthers are calm as they look for sweep today
EDMONTON, Alberta — One win away from a championship, it feels like the Florida Panthers are treating Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final like Game 44 of the regular season.
“Our whole mindset right now is recovering and getting prepared for the next game,” forward Sam Bennett said after beating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 to move to the verge of a sweep. “I don’t think anyone can really look ahead.”
With coach Paul Maurice and captain Aleksander Barkov setting the tone, the Panthers are looking ahead only to Game 4 on the road tonight as the next challenge in their season-long journey. They can bring home the Cup for the first time in franchise history but are approaching the opportunity in the same businesslike manner they’ve had all playoffs.
“We’ve done such a good job of having that onegame, simple mindset: Win your first period, win your first few shifts,” winger Matthew Tkachuk said Friday. “Just a really calm, kind of chill and relaxed group today. Use that to our advantage.”
One major advantage is being in the final for a second consecutive time, though this series is the opposite for Florida after injuries piled up and the gas ran out last year against Vegas. The core group also knows what it’s like to be facing elimination this late in the playoffs, seeing the Golden Knights close it out in their first chance in 2023.
Maurice does not believe finishing any series, especially the final, is not about killer instinct, but he wants the Panthers to acknowledge it’s an elimination game and a situation most of his players and staff have never been in before.
“We go back to what we know,” Maurice said. “There’s nothing new to what we’re going to do. The puck’s going to drop, it’s going to be the exact same sport, so there’s nothing new here. The context is different.”
The context is being up 3-0 in the series despite arguably being outplayed in two of the three games. They have the better goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky, who has stopped 82 of 86 shots and whose .953 save percentage ranks in the top 10 in a final in NHL history, and they have scored on their opportunities while the Oilers have not.
Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch thinks his players not finishing has been the difference in the series, pointing to analytics that show they are getting more quality scoring chances than in any of the first three rounds.
“It’s just being able to put the puck in the net, which is obviously a very big part of the game,” Knoblauch said.