Panthers making roster moves ahead of Stanley Cup Final Game 6 in Edmonton
Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice going back to combination of Nick Cousins and Ryan Lomberg on Panthers fourth line
It’s the same story, different day for the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.
Florida comes into Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final similarly to how they entered Game 4, with an opportunity to win a game on the road and clinch a Stanley Cup championship.
For Edmonton, the name of the game is staying alive.
They just want to win one more game and extend their season, which in this case would be to a winner-take-all Game 7 in Sunrise.
The last time the Panthers tried to end the series in Edmonton, they were run out of the building by the survival-hungry Oilers, so much so that it took Florida nearly half of Game 5 to get their groove back.
Now the question will be whether the Panthers can carry the momentum from late in Game 5 over to Game 6.
Whether talking about the Panthers or Oilers, scoring the all-important first goal on Friday night will be crucial, particular for the visiting team from Florida.
Otherwise, allowing Edmonton to get going and their passionate crowd to electrify the building could lead to another troublesome evening for the Cats in Oil-town.
Florida held a full team practice at the Cats’ brand new practice facility in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday before boarding a flight back to Edmonton.
During the skate, the Panthers line rushes indicated there is a change coming to Florida’s lineup ahead of Thursday’s Game 6 in Edmonton.
Forward Nick Cousins lined up on Florida’s fourth line, joining Ryan Lomberg flanking Kevin Stenlund on the Panthers fourth line.
Afterwards, Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice confirmed that Cousins would in fact be slotting back into the lineup on Friday, replacing Kyke Okposo.
Cousins will be reunited with Ryan Lomberg on Florida’s fourth line, with the two skating between penalty killing specialist Kevin Stenlund.
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 – Nick Cousins
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
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