The very last thing a group desires to do in a playoff sequence is give their opponent hope. Any doorways barely ajar must be shut instantly.
The Florida Panthers have had two alternatives to shut out the Edmonton Oilers and win their first-ever Stanley Cup title. However Sergei Bobrovsky has been off his recreation (.769 save proportion) and Connor McDavid used Video games 4 and 5 to point out everybody that his group isn’t taking place and not using a struggle ± and that he can carry all of them the way in which again on this sequence with consecutive four-point nights.
McDavid mentioned forward of Recreation 5 in Florida that the Oilers needed to tug the Panthers “again to Alberta.” That meant one other recreation and one other 2,500-mile flight.
He received his want, and whereas Panthers head coach Paul Maurice can say there’s additionally strain on Edmonton at this second, his group is the one which doesn’t need to drop a 3rd straight recreation and depart the sequence as much as a winner-take-all Recreation 7 that would have unlucky historic penalties for his franchise.
“When you don’t have anything to lose, there is a freedom to that. When you might have one thing to guard, typically you are feeling the strain to guard it,” Maurice mentioned on Thursday. “So there’s a night out on this sequence now. I feel the strain is nearer [between us].”
The Panthers will stay assured heading into Friday’s Recreation 6 (8 p.m. ET; ABC). The Stanley Cup might be in Rogers Place awaiting presentation to the Panthers ought to they win. The Oilers have seen their confidence develop with two huge wins and their captain — McDavid — taking part in at his regular otherworldly degree.
Little errors are magnified on this stage, and the Panthers know what areas they must be higher in to get again to the way in which they performed earlier within the sequence. Florida pushed to get again into Recreation 5 to no avail, however the gamers noticed that regardless of rating results, they haven’t utterly misplaced their recreation.
“We’re that group. I imply, we have been that group all yr,” mentioned Panthers ahead Matthew Tkachuk. “We had a little bit little bit of a lapse in Recreation 4 right here for a interval and a half. However for essentially the most half, we have been fairly according to it. We actually like our 5-on-5 recreation. We’re comfy towards anyone on this planet with it.”
Just one NHL group — the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs — has ever received the Cup after falling behind 3-0 within the Cup Closing. The Oilers are gunning to be the second to perform that.
“There isn’t any group that’s extra prepared for the second than this one right here,” mentioned McDavid.
2024 Stanley Cup Closing schedule (Panthers lead sequence 3-2)
Recreation 1: Panthers 3, Oilers 0
Recreation 2: Panthers 4, Oilers 1
Recreation 3: Panthers 4, Oilers 3
Recreation 4: Oilers 8, Panthers 1
Recreation 5: Oilers 5, Panthers 3
Recreation 6: Panthers at Oilers | Friday, June 21, 8 p.m. ET (ABC, ESPN+)
*Recreation 7: Oilers at Panthers | Monday, June 24, 8 p.m. ET (ABC, ESPN+)
(*if obligatory)
