Game 3 in Florida on Thursday night will be do-or-die for the Panthers
Two teams took the ice for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night in Las Vegas.
One of them looked the part.
The other did not.
The Florida Panthers needed a win to avoid falling into an 0-2 series hole for the first time this playoff, but that did not happen.
Instead, the Vegas Golden Knights flexed their muscle in front of a raucous crowd at T-Mobile Arena, embarrassing the Panthers by the tune of a 7-2 shellacking on the game’s grandest stage.
Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida’s savior throughout the postseason, has been subpar for two games now.
On Saturday he made several big saves while letting some tough ones get by.
Monday he was screened by his own players on two of his goals but couldn’t come up with a big stop on the others.
At the opposite end of the ice, Vegas goaltender Adin Hill has been nothing short of spectacular.
He’s been to the Golden Knights during the Final what Bob had been to the Panthers during the second and third rounds.
Something needs to change, and quickly, if the Panthers are going to avoid getting knocked out of the Final before landing a punch.
FIRST PERIOD
The first few minutes of this game were a bit tamer than during Game 1, though the Panthers did lay two big hits courtesy of Radko Gudas and Sam Bennett on Will Carrier and Nick Amadio, respectively.
Florida's first good opportunity came after a strong shift by Vegas in which Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky lost his stick.
Sasha Barkov sent the puck to a streaking Carter Verhaeghe, but his breakaway backhand was stopped by Vegas tendy Adin Hill.
The fans were cheering when Ivan Barbashev put Gudas on his back with a reverse hit after Gudas came gliding in to deliver a hit of his own.
Gudas would skate off the ice and go straight to Florida's locker room, and the Panthers ended up shorthanded due to a Ryan Lomberg cross-check on Jonathan Marchessault.
Gudas did not return, and Marchessault got the last laugh, scoring soon after on the power play to give Vegas a 1-0 lead on a screaming wrist shot that went over Bobrovsky's glove. Mark Stone did a nice job with a doorstep screen on Bob.
Florida would go a while between shots on goal, with 10 minutes and one second passing after Brandon Montour put on one net 4:15 into the game.
Montour was called for an undisciplined roughing penalty on Marchessault with 6:07 to go in the period, hitting him in the head at the Florida blue line as he was already being checked by Anthony Duclair.
The Panthers did a solid job on this penalty kill, and then were bailed out at the end when Nick Roy was called for an offensive zone hook on Marc Staal.
Florida's power play looked great, doing everything right except get the puck past Hill.
Soon after it ended, Vegas made it 2-0 on a goal by Alec Martinez off a great feed from Barbashev. Bobrovsky was screened by Josh Mahura and never saw the puck.
The first period ended with Vegas leading by two and outshooting Florida 11-10.
SECOND PERIOD
Montour got a pair of good looks on Hill early in the second, putting a shot on net and then picking up his own rebound and wrapping around the net, but the goalie's massive leg pad was there waiting.
Then the home team scored again.
Roy walked out from the corner, carrying the puck to the low slot before firing a puck off the post and past Bobrovsky to make it 3-0 Vegas at the 2:59 mark.
Howden scored a gorgeous goal to make it 4-0 Vegas with 12:50 to go in the period, ending the night of Sergei Bobrovsky.
His goaltending counterpart in gold flashed the leather and snapped a Barkov shot out of midair to keep Florida off the board.
Lyon's first save was a doozie, kicking out the right pad on William Karlsson with about 11:30 to go.
Alex Pietrangelo was sent off for interfering with Verhaeghe at the 10:01 mark, and Florida again looked very good while up a man, putting four shots on goal, but they were all stopped by Hill.
Another Panthers power play came soon after, and this one was highlighted by a windmill glove save on Montour by Hill, who was locked into some kind of zone.
With 2:04 to go in the period Tkachuk flattened Eichel with a crushing hip check. It was helmet-popping and violent, but it was clean. Eichel tripped just as he was Tkachuk coming, causing him to fall forward right into the check of Tkachuk.
Tkachuck and Barbashev were both given misconducts after the post-hit dust settled.
End of two, Florida was down 4-0.
THIRD PERIOD
A lucky bounce finally went the Panthers way when Anton Lundell's shot that was heading wide of the net deflected off Martinez and past Hill.
Just 14 seconds into the period, Florida cut the Vegas lead to 4-1.
Marchessault would cut off any air in Florida's comeback balloon less than two minutes later when Eichel found him all alone in the slot.
A shot to the low glove side would beat Lyon, similar to many put past him during the opening round against Boston.
Vegas made it 6-1 when Amadio slammed a perfect feed from Karlsson into a wide-open net at the 10:33 mark.
Tkachuk returned from his 12-minute banishment for the clean hit on Eichel, who returned for the third period, and scored on Hill to make it 6-2 with 7:16 to go.
Moments later Tkachuk was issued his second misconduct penalty of the game.
Not that the coffin needed another nail in it, but Vegas scored again to make it 7-2 with 2:08 to go. It was Howden's second of the game.
GAME NOTES
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