Panthers looking to change fortune in Stanley Cup Final strangely similar to 1996 series

Just like they did in '96, the Cats opened the Final with a pair of losses on the road

The Florida Panthers franchise has been waiting a long time for another chance to compete for the Stanley Cup.

It's been 27 years since the third-year Panthers scratched and clawed their way to the final round of the playoffs.

The ride was as amazing as it was surprising, but the Cinderella story would end before midnight.

No fairy godmother, no glass slipper.

Just Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy putting on performances that would haunt our dreams for years.

Maybe that's just me, but I digress…

This year, Florida has once again surprised us all with an unexpected run to the Stanley Cup Final.

The path up the mountain has changed over the years, but the 90s squad the current group both found their own ways to navigate it. 

Aside from the Final sweep, the '96 Panthers team only trailed twice in a series, 2-1 to Philadelphia in round two and 3-2 to Pittsburgh in the conference final.

The current squad fell behind 3-1 in the opening round to the Bruins before winning 11 of 12 to steamroll the Eastern Conference competition.

Now here we are, back in the Final, and that old, familiar feeling of pending gloom is slowly starting to spread. 

Perhaps that is because both times the Panthers started the series on the road, and both times returned to the Sunshine State down 0-2.

“Clearly, we have to be strong at home, and we’re prepared to be," Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday.

Peering into the microscope, though, there is a little more to the resemblance between the two series'.

Florida's Tom Fitzgerald scored the first goal in the '96 Final. Then Colorado scored three times in 3:49 of the second period and that was that for the series opener. 

Eric Staal would opening the scoring in this year's Game 1, only for the Golden Knights to score three times in a period (this time the third) to close out the win.

What about a forgettable, embarrassing effort in Game 2?

The Panthers were run out of McNichols Arena in '96, giving up a first period hat trick to Peter Forsberg en route to an 8-1 drubbing.

In Vegas, Florida dropped Game 2 by a similarly excruciating score of 7-2.

Both times, the Cats found themselves trailing the host 4-1 during the third period before things really went sideways.

But wait, there's more!

Starting goalie John Vanbiesbrouck was pulled after giving up four goals on 11 shots during the first period of Game 2 in '96.

Sergei Bobrovsky nearly made it to the halfway point of Monday's Game 2 before he was yanked, surrendering, you guessed it, four goals, this time on 13 shots.

With both contests being blowouts, it's no surprise things got a little off the rails late in each game.

Game 2 in '96 featured 60 penalty minutes, with 48 of them (or 80%) coming in the third period.

Monday's game saw 148 penalty minutes handed out, 106 of which (or 71.6%) were called during the final frame, including a ridiculous ten misconducts, because, you know, inflation.

Now the Panthers have to hope what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Back in 1996, Florida returned to the Miami Arena and promptly dropped Games 3 and 4 to bow out of the Final in an unceremonious sweep.

They scored two goals in those two home games (thanks again, Patrick Roy).

The current Panthers will take the ice for Game 3 against Vegas on Thursday.

This time it'll be a different venue, with the puck dropping at FLA Live Arena, located about 40 miles northwest of where the old Miami Arena once stood, at 8 p.m. 

For the sake of the Panthers, and their fans, hopefully this trip to the Stanley Cup Final will begin to separate itself in similarity from the pain of last one.

"We feel that our best hockey is still ahead of us," Maurice said.