Florida enters Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final leading the Edmonton Oilers three games to one

The Florida Panthers will arrive at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday with an amazing opportunity in front of them.

Florida is one win away from clinching their latest playoff series.

While each series carries a certain level of importance and significance, this one is a wee bit bigger.

A victory on Tuesday over the Edmonton Oilers would be a fourth and deciding win in the Stanley Cup Final.

That might seem like a strange thing to try and envision when taking into consideration Florida’s embarrassing 8-1 loss in Game 4 on Saturday night.

“I think in each one of those situations, including last night, you come to the rink to clinch, that's first and foremost, and then you get a little bit of a reality check, and then you get back to the hockey,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “So that'll be our goal here over the next two days.”

Florida is fresh off winning each of their past six games.

They won three straight after falling behind the New York Rangers two games to one in the Eastern Conference Final, then reeled off another three dubs over Edmonton in the opening three games of the Stanley Cup Final.

“At the end of the day, it’s just back to the drawing board,” said Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk. “When we win, we learn from it and we put it aside, when we lose, it’s the same thing.”

It’s a sentiment that the Panthers have been abiding by throughout the season.

Just ask their captain.

“We either win or we learn, and I think we learned a lot from this game,” Sasha Barkov said after Game 4. “We know they are a really good team and they play really well, and today they played really well. We need to learn from that.”

The theme was common.

Florida is a team full of confidence, and rightly so.

That had them beyond ready to put what happened on Saturday behind them and get back to work, knowing that the victories will once again come when they resume doing what they’ve done all season.

“You learn from those games,” said Panthers forward Vladimir Tarasenko. “I’ve said it before, it's a mindset. You play one game at a time and get ready for the next one and learn from your mistakes.”

During this year’s playoffs, Florida has only allowed three or more goals in six of their 21 games.

They won two of those six.

The Panthers have done an excellent job at bouncing back from rough periods and games, both during the regular season and the playoffs.

It’s a big reason why Florida has only lost consecutive games once during their entire playoff run.

Maurice and his staff have done an great job preparing their team to play, and in showing them ways to remedy issues that have popped up during their less favorable outings.

“You get one or two kinds of videos you when you (review) the game, you end up with 130 clips some nights, and experience says you don't show anything, but if you can find the theme, and that's the most important part, you're not reteaching your entire game, clearly,” Maurice said. “There was an obvious theme in that game last night, they got to us off the rush in a big way.”

Now you can expect Maurice to lean on his veteran players.

Florida’s locker room is one of the most revered in the league.

It’s not difficult for the coaching staff to get them locked back in after a tough game, and that’s thanks to a very trusting, hard-working group of veterans.

“The emotions of your team in pro sports are going to go up and down. That's just a fact,” Maurice said Sunday morning. “The further you get into the playoffs, the more emotion is there, and sometimes the swings are greater, so you rely on those veterans to keep – not to ignore the emotions or pretend like they're not there – but just keep it in a fairly narrow band so we're not swinging too high or too low. It's very, almost quiet, in our room after the first three games, and it was quiet at the start last night after the game, but by the time we got back to the meal room, we were back talking to each other, and then breakfast this morning there was lots of chatter, so keep the keep the emotional bandwidth narrow.”

The Panthers flew back to South Florida shortly after Maurice said that.

They slept in their own beds on Sunday night and will practice at their brand new training facility on Monday.

Throughout the season, Florida has made bouncing back part of their repertoire.

If they can do it just one more time…

“We're in an unbelievable spot right now,” said Tkachuk. “We came (to Edmonton) after all that craziness and got a split, and we're going home in front of our unbelievable fans that are so excited to see us, and we're so excited to play in front of them again.”

The puck drops on Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. 

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