The Florida Panthers franchise has played six Stanley Cup Final games and won exactly zero

The Florida Panthers are preparing to host a Stanley Cup Final game for the first time since 1996 and their backs are against the wall.

Florida returned home from Las Vegas with no wins in two tries and need a big victory on Thursday to avoid falling into the back hole of playoff deficits.

Game 3 isn't really a must-win, but it's a must-win.

"It's just desperation and winning a game," said Panthers defenseman Marc Staal. "We've approached every game in the playoffs the same way."

Staal and his teammates will be looking to reclaim some of that postseason magic that saw them cut through their first three playoff opponents to the tune of 11 wins in 12 games.

There were times they fell behind or surrendered leads, but Florida was never out of a game, not since dropping Game 4 of the opening round to Boston 6-2.

The Final has been a different story.

Game 1 was tight until Vegas blew it open during the third period. Had Adin Hill not stopped Nick Cousins with an unbelievable save early in the second period, one that kept Florida from taking a 2-1 lead, the game may have taken on an entirely different complexion.

Monday’s Game 2 just seemed to snowball out of control.

Behind 1-0 early, down 2-0 after one, down 4-0 after two, it was as one-sided of a Stanley Cup Final game and you’ll see.

The Panthers are running out of opportunities to bounce back, and they know it.

"I think as a team, we need to be in a better position to win a game," said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. "I thought we were in Game 1."

It’s fair to expect Florida to come out desperate, as the odds are already stacked pretty high against them.

Teams that have taken a 2-0 lead in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final hold an all-time record of 48-5, which is a win percentage of 90.6%.

For good measure, a team that takes a 2-0 lead on home ice and then hits the road have a 38-3 record (92.7% win percentage).

If ever there was a time the Comeback Cats were needed, this would be it.

LINEUP NOTES

The Panthers will be without Eetu Luostarinen for the third straight game with an undisclosed injury he suffered during the first period of Game 4 against Carolina.

In Game 1 it was forward Zac Dalpe taking Eetu's spot and playing 5:40. On Monday night Casey Fitzgerald dressed as a seventh defenseman and ended up playing 10:41 after Radko Gudas left the game during the second period.

We'll see if Maurice gives any indication of which way he's leaning after Florida's morning skate.

As for Gudas, Maurice said Wednesday that he's expected to be good to go for Game 3.

"We expect the lineup to have the same options," Maurice said.

Sergei Bobrovsky will be back in goal for the Panthers after getting pulled during the second period of Game 2.

Maurice laughed off the idea of making a change, saying Bobrovsky had been "outstanding" in Game 1 and had operated at the same level as the rest of the Panthers in Game 2.

"And like 48 hours before that, you've got Tkachuk and Bobrovsky… how are they going to divide the Conn Smythe?" Maurice said. "Yeah, Sergei is going."

On the Vegas side, no reason to suspect they won't keep the status quo.

They're up 2-0 and have outscored Florida 12-4 so far in the series.

LINEUP UPDATES

Gudas will play for Florida, Maurice confirmed after the Panthers morning skate. 

He also said the Panthers would be going with 12 forwards and six defensemen. 

When asked if that means Dalpe slots back into the lineup, Maurice said he hadn't told the players in the room who was and wasn't playing yet, so he wouldn't be disclosing it to the media. 

"I haven't let that cat out of the bag in my room, so to speak," he said with a smirk.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Sam Bennett on solving Adin Hill: "It's really just the simple things. It's getting more traffic to the net, more pucks to the net, making his life hard."

Josh Mahura on Florida's defensive unit: "We have a certain standard that we've set, and I think we got away from it a little bit in Game 2. Obviously we're looking to get back at it tonight.”

Matthew Tkachuk on Game 3: "This is by far the biggest game of our season. We know what has made we successful to get to this point and we're definitely not going to shy away from that, but that being said, we do have to tweak a few things to make sure that we're able to improve the results of how we're playing right now."

Anthony Duclair on self-inflicted wounds: "I think the boys are fired up, a lot of emotions, but at the same time I think we just need to be a little smarter in certain situations. The last thing we want to do is keep getting penalties and putting those guys on the power play. Obviously they’ve got tons of skill, tons of talent, and can make us pay, so we’re gonna see a little smarter hockey tonight out of us."