Matthew Tkachuk's Series-Winner - Courtesy of TNT That's right, the 16th-ranked team in the entire NHL postseason is moving on as one of the final two clubs remaining in a winner-take-all, best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final matchup with either the Vegas Golden Knights (up 3-0) or the Dallas Stars. Maurice's 42-win Panthers finished off the shorthanded Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in dramatic fashion from FLA Live Arena in Sunrise on Wednesday evening. In doing so, they punched their ticket to the final series of the season. On the flip side, Carolina's Paul Stastny - who spent parts of three seasons playing under Maurice in Winnipeg - saw his season, and quite possibly his NHL career come to an end in a losing effort. With rats raining down on the players as they skated through the handshake line post-game, fans celebrating in South Florida are certainly hopeful for the team's first Stanley Cup victory, and first Final experience since 1996. In taking over for interim head coach Andrew Brunette in the offseason, Maurice went from an 'uncoachable' Winnipeg Jets club to a Stanley Cup contender in a matter of months. But the process wasn't quite as easy as it may sound. General manager Bill Zito was the architect behind most of the changes in Panther-land. Opting to ship away stud blueliner MacKenzie Weegar and offensive star Jonathan Huberdeau this past offseason, fans were skeptical of the return. That return was Matthew Tkachuk, who put up his second-straight 40-goal, 100-point campaign, while registering an incredible three conference final game-winners en route to Florida's sweep of the Hurricanes. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk4MTg1NzUyMjA5NjYzMDQ4/usatsi_20747318.jpg] That deal, alongside many others... ahem, Brandon Montour... has paid off for Zito and Co. Bringing in Maurice - who, at one point, was dead-set on walking away from the game for good - also proved to be a fantastic decision, as the 57-year-old Sault Ste. Marie product has firmly laid his fingerprints all over the DNA of this Panthers team. "He's made it so much fun for me to come to the rink each and every day, and that's so important," Tkachuk said of his new coach prior to Game 4. Riding the hot goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky, who actually let in as many goals in Game 4 on Wednesday night (3) as he did in the previous three games of the series, the Panthers once again found late offensive success off the stick of Tkachuk, who scored the winner on the power play with just 4.9 seconds remaining in the game. Florida's 42 wins just so happened to be the fewest number among any postseason participant (tied with the New York Islanders), but its 12 playoff victories thus far has the team set to travel to either Vegas or Dallas, as it will once again open its next series on the road. The nine-year Winnipeg resident has now seen his Cats dismantle the NHL record-setting Boston Bruins in the opening round, then go on to drop the powerful Toronto Maple Leafs in just five games, before sweeping the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. In starting on the road every series thus far, a two-game test from T-Mobile Arena in Vegas with its likely opponent, the Golden Knights, shouldn't come as any sort of added difficulty. Vegas is, however, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and finished the year as the fourth-best team overall with a 51-22-9 record despite missing some critical pieces along the way. Right now, 'Backstop Bob' has been the biggest difference maker for Florida, whereas Vegas has been juggling through its five goaltenders all season. With Robin Lehner, Logan Thompson and Laurent Brossoit all currently injured, the Knights will look to continue rolling with the recently-successful Adin Hill, as the team is expected to move on to what will also be its second Stanley Cup Final in franchise history. Depending on how the remainder of the Western Conference Final shakes out, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final could be scheduled for as soon as this coming weekend, or as late as the following weekend.
