Florida has gone 3-3 in games where they could potentially eliminate their opponent this postseason
The Florida Panthers are back for another bite at the apple.
Florida came into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday with a chance to win the Stanley Cup.
Instead, the Panthers were manhandled by the desperate Oilers and lost by seven goals.
Now the Cats will be back on their home ice and looking to prove that the lopsided defeat was nothing more than a minor bump on their road to a championship.
“They were a lot better last game, and obviously they had a lot of good chances, they scored eight goals on us,” said Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe. “We’ll get better, and we're going to come back and play a better game.”
The thing is, Florida knows it can show much better against the Oilers.
They jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the series thanks to a strong combination of consistent offense and increasingly solid defense.
“We want to build off the first three games,” said Panthers defenseman Gus Forsling. “I feel like we played with a little tighter gap, and I think we let them a little bit off the hook in the fourth game. We didn't play as tight as we wanted as a team, and it starts with me and all the defenseman with a tight gap. I think that's what we want to improve.”
If the Panthers can make a few tweaks and get back to playing the way they have for much of this series, this postseason and really since Opening Night back in October, they’ll be skating away with the Stanley Cup.
“It's exciting,” said Panthers forward Vladimir Tarasenko. “If you look in a deep perspective, that's why you play this game. Since being a kid you dream to be in the situation where we are right now. It’s just it's good time to be alive, especially with this group around us. That’s why we play.”
Yes, they are so, so close.
Now they have an opportunity to not only clinch the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, but to do it on home ice, in front of their fans.
“Our building has been unbelievable the whole playoffs, and I don't anticipate it being any less than that, even more so,” said Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov. “It's going to be exciting.”
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice indicated on Monday that there might be changes to Florida’s lineup ahead of Game 5.
Looking at how Florida’s line rushes were comprised, there might be a player or two moved onto the fourth line.
We won’t know for sure until at least after the Panthers morning skate on Tuesday.
Here are Florida’s projected lines and pairings for Game 5 against Edmonton:
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Vladimir Tarasenko
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Stenlund – Kyle Okposo
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
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