Panthers are no longer endangered
The added drama doesn't cheapen the value of their Stanley Cup.
With seven minutes left in Game 7 Monday night, a 16-day siege for the Stanley Cup came down to a few war-torn inches of ice.
Edmonton finally had all its dangerous players in convergence. Florida, straining to make sure its 2-1 game lead would be protected better than its 3-0 series lead had been, was throwing skates, helmets, arms, legs and hearts at every puck they saw.
In the end, the Panthers gauged their success the way they always do. If you’re watching the screen, and you see all five skaters, you know they have a chance.
The Oilers’ Evan Bouchard, the hardest shooter in this series, prolonged a long, dominant shift by drilling another shot at goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. The puck popped off him and into the slot, where Connor McDavid loomed like a grizzly bear on a hiking trail. The best player in the world was in the catbird seat, and the puck nestled against his stick as if it knew the destination. This was the whole show, right here. If McDavid tied this game at this time, it was difficult to see how the Panthers could retrieve hope.
McDavid shot. Bobrovsky, 35, went into a full split for the save. The puck came out to Zach Hyman, sometimes nicknamed “Shaq Hyman” because of his frequent scores in the blue paint. Hyman shot and Bobrovsky tried to recover, but he didn’t have to because Eetu Luostarinen was there, one of the ever-present five. Luostarinen blocked the shot. Around him were Brandon Mountour, Gustav Forsling, Vladimir Tarasenko and, back behind the goalie and in the net itself, Sam Bennett. That was not Edmonton’s final rally, but it was the most serious one, and as the noise built and the clock kept receding, the Oilers couldn’t even get goaltender Stuart Skinner out of the net early enough to be constructive. That’s where game, set and match ended, and the 30-year-old club won its first Stanley Cup and managed to avoid an identity crisis of lifelong proportion. Few teams have flown so many miles with a sword hanging over its head.
“You know, it's not the trophy,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice. “It's the last three days. A few days ago, we weren’t here. To see our leadership group come together and get us ready, that’s what I‘m going to remember. Didn’t know if we'd win, but I knew we’d come out and play hard.”
The Panthers steamed through the first two-and-a-half games. They also won Game 3, but Edmonton came back to lose gallantly, 4-3. Then the Oilers, and McDavid, wasted the Panthers, 8-1, in Game 4, and after a win in Florida they came back home and trounced last year’s Eastern champs, 5-1. At one point they scored 20 goals in 10 periods. Bobrovsky gave up goals on five consecutive breakaways, as Florida became hesitant on the blue line and remained helpless on the power play. Only the 1942 Red Wings had lost a 3-0 lead in a Stanley Cup Final, to Toronto. The dread intensified when it became clear that a healthy chunk of Edmonton fans had squeezed their way into Florida’s building.
Sure enough, the Panthers came up empty on their first man-advantage in Game 7. But just as it expired, Evan Rodrigues fired a puck to the left of Skinner, and Carter Verhaeghe chopped it into the net. The euphoria didn’t last long, as Mattias Janmark scored on yet another Edmonton rush, but the Panthers would never trail.
Basically it came down to workaday defensemen, and what they did and didn’t do. Dmitry Kulilov was a first-round pick of the Panthers 15 years ago. Then he went on a grand tour, wearing seven other NHL sweaters before he returned to South Florida. Here, he was standing near the goal when Bobrovsky stopped but couldn’t control a shot by Warren Foegele. Kulikov was on his way down, thanks to Dylan Holloway, but still swept it behind the net and out of trouble, and the Panthers headed out of the zone.
That cued Sam Reinhart, author of 57 goals in the regular season but only one in this series, who skated down the right wing and found himself surprisingly alone. Defenseman Brent Kulak, who had a terrific series, backed up and anticipated a pass. Reinhart ripped a shot past Skinner for what became the Cup-winning goal.
Yes, it takes a village, especially when McDavid rides into town.
There would be some controversy, of course. The Conn Smythe Trophy goes to the MVP of the entire playoff, not just the Final, as commissioner Gary Bettman stressed. McDavid won, because he broke Wayne Gretzky’s record for assists in the postseason, and drove the team to a Game 7. But Bobrovsky went 16-8 and was there for every playoff game, after his stamina had been questioned. He had a .906 save percentage, but he allowed only 36 goals in 5 on 5 situations over the 24 games, and his high-danger save percentage was .840. And Bobrovsky did indeed stop McDavid in the definitive moment.
Others were irked over a Game 7 played on June 24, or five days after the summer solstice and at roughly the halfway point of the MLB season. But the two-day intervals actually served the league well, because of the 7-hour flights between the participating cities. The TV ratings have been surprisingly good so far. The only problem for the Oilers and Panthers is that training camp looms in early September.
Maurice has been a head coach in the NHL for 26 years and has been in three Finals. This was his first Cup. The Panthers cut their goals-allowed by 72 this season, and through the trades that brought Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, they became ornery and possessive on the boards. It’s a deeply talented team. Ekblad, Tkachuk and Bennett went No. 1, 3 and 4 in the same 2014 draft. But the recent successes of the Panthers, Tampa Bay, Vegas and Dallas, all located where no state income tax exists, also prompts a howl or two by teams that are handcuffed by the salary cap. Clearly there’s an edge that could be soothed when the CBA comes up two seasons from now.
That’s not the proper takeaway from Game 7 or any of the other games, regardless of the calendar. Whatever you say about the Panthers, they paid up.