Panthers are Against the Wall in Stanley Cup Final

The Florida Panthers have been on an incredible run throughout the NHL Playoffs, they barely squeaked into the postseason, but they have certainly made the most of it being an underdog throughout.

It is the most successful run from the franchise in 27 years and unfortunately through two games of the Stanley Cup Finals, it has been almost identical to the 1996 team’s performance in the championship… that’s not a good thing.

The Vegas Golden Knights have outscored the Florida Panthers by eight goals through two contests, which included a lopsided 7-2 victory in Game 2 on Monday night. It was also Vegas’ third game in a row with a power-play goal, the last time that happened was in December.

For Vegas, they are now only two victories away from winning their first championship in only six seasons as an NHL franchise. Florida on the other hand, they are trying to avoid another disappointing finish at the pinnacle of the sport.

The last team to win the first two games of a Stanley Cup Final by more than eight combined goals was the Colorado Avalanche in 1996, who outscored the Panthers by nine combined goals in the first two games of that championship series.

Florida is staring down an obstacle that not many teams have come back from in the Stanley Cup Final. Since the expansion era, only three teams have ever come back from a 2-0 series deficit in the championship; the overall record when a team lost its first two games, it’s 31-3.

In the Panthers case though, it’s not something that is foreign to them. They did have a historic comeback in round one against the NHL’s best regular season team, the Boston Bruins, where Florida would rally back from being down 3-1 and win the series.

The Panthers are going to have to dig deep and bring their best to the ice if they want to turn this whole thing around, history is not on their side, but it is a series for a reason and it is not over yet.

“I think our depth has been a strength all year, it is the biggest reason we are still here, [it is] why we beat Winnipeg, Edmonton, Dallas. I just feel that we have the best team from player one through 20,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said.

Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals for Vegas, he also added an assist to finish with three points. His 12 postseason goals set a Golden Knights record, with all of them coming after the first round. The only player with more goals following the opening round of the playoffs, Pavel Bure, who scored 13 for the Vancouver Canucks in 1994.

“They want to set the tone with being undisciplined like Game 1 and we set the tone back, it was scoring that first goal there, but we’re still pretty far from our goal here,” Marchessault said.

Brett Howden scored two goals for the Knights, including one each from Alec Martinez, Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio. Six players had at least two points for Vegas, all 18 of the Knights skaters were on the ice for even-strength goals and their nine goal scorers through the first two games are a Stanley Cup Final record. The Knights’ seven goals tied a franchise playoff record for a single game.

Sergei Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, was one of two key cogs that pushed Florida through the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Coming into the Stanley Cup Final, he had won 11 of his past 12 starts with a 1.95 goals-against average and .942 save percentage during that run. It has been an entirely different story in the championship, where he’s given up eight goals in 87 minutes against Vegas, while posting a 5.52 goals-against-average and .826 save percentage in the Stanley Cup Final series.

Bobrovsky was removed with 7:10 remaining in the second period when Florida was down 4-0.

“We can be a little better in front of our goaltender. I got him out to keep him rested,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

Anton Lundell and Matthew Tkachuk would be the only two players to score a goal from Florida’s side, meanwhile Adin Hill continued his incredible performance in Game 2 for Vegas, where he recorded 29 saves.

“It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing hockey. I’m just enjoying it, cherishing every day. It’s been awesome to be part of the journey with this team,” said Hill.

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