What Went Wrong For the Panthers In Vegas
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The Florida Panthers are headed home for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals in a spot they have not been in all postseason long: trailing a series 2-0. The Vegas Golden Knights followed up their 5-2 Game 1 victory on Saturday night with an even more dominant win on home ice last night, crushing the Panthers 7-2.
Florida entered the Stanley Cup Finals red hot, winning 11 of their last 12 games spanning back to their Game 5 win against the record-setting Bruins in overtime in the first round. The Panthers also had an eight-game road winning streak heading into their matchup with Vegas, but the Golden Knights took both games at home to start the series, outscoring Florida 12-4 in total.
The Panthers' lack of discipline had them outmatched in the first two games of the series. Florida has been shorthanded 11 times in the series already, and the Golden Knights cashed in on the power play twice in both games. The Panthers have combined for nine-game misconduct penalties so far, including three misconduct penalties by Matthew Tkachuk. Between minor penalties and game misconduct Florida racked up a whopping 130 penalty minutes during their first two games in Vegas.
All these penalties taken by the Panthers have definitely contributed to Sergei Bobrovsky’s disappointing start to the series. After going 4-0 with a .966 save percentage in the Eastern Conference Finals v.s Carolina, Bobrovsky has given up eight goals on 46 shots in the Stanley Cup Finals and was pulled from the net in Game 2 for Alex Lyon in the second period. It was the first time this postseason that Bobrovsky got relieved during a game. Not only did Bobrovsky’s poor play hurt the Panthers, but it was also Adin Hill’s phenomenal play in these first two games.
The Golden Knights acquired Adin Hill before the start of the season. He was the third-string goalie at some points during the regular season, but injuries have put Hill in the spotlight, and he has been spectacular since becoming Vegas’s starting goaltender. Hill has posted a .937 save percentage in these playoffs and has a 9-3 record. In the first two games against Florida, Hill stopped 62 of 66 shots to earn back-to-back wins, bringing Vegas two wins away from their first Stanley Cup in the young franchise’s history. The Panthers need to figure out how to beat Hill quickly, as a 3-0 deficit would be a gigantic hole to climb out of.
Florida is also going to need their depth players to step into bigger roles in the upcoming games as the Panthers are dealing with a couple of injuries right now to Eetu Luostarinen, who missed both games in Vegas, and Radko Gudas, who left Game 2 after being hit by Ivan Barbashev in the first period.
The Panthers are down but not out in this series to Vegas but it will be over soon if they continue their struggles from the first two games. Florida will need to let cooler heads prevail and they are going to need Sergei Bobrovsky to bounce back in a big way on their home ice in Sunrise.
