3 defining stats why Florida Panthers are on brink of elimination in Stanley Cup Final
The Florida Panthers’ magical season is now on the brink of a heartbreaking end.
After a 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday at FLA Live Arena, the Panthers are in a 3-1 hole in the best-of-7 series and would need to win each of the final three games of the series to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
It’s not impossible. After all, Florida was in this exact spot in the first round of the playoffs against the Boston Bruins and managed to rally all the way back to win the series before beating the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games and the Carolina Hurricanes in four to get to just the second Stanley Cup Final appearance in franchise history.
But how did the Panthers get themselves in this position?
“They keep scoring more goals than we do,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice quipped after Saturday’s loss.
Well, yes. That’s the most accurate answer in its simplest form.
But here are three stats from the series to this point that have played a role in Florida’s with its back against the wall.
Blocked shots: The Golden Knights have blocked an almost-unreal 97 shots over the first four games of the series, including 30 in Game 4.
A high number of blocked shots was expected from this Vegas team. The Golden Knights led the NHL in blocked shots per 60 minutes in the regular season (17.94). They’ve increased that in the playoffs (19.66) in order to contain the Panthers’ offense.
Special teams: This wasn’t much of a factor in Game 4 because Vegas only got one power play and the Panthers only had a man advantage for the final 17 seconds of the game, but production on special teams has played a factor throughout the course of the series.
Florida is 0 for 13 on the power play, while Vegas is 6 for 18. More than one-third of the Golden Knights’ goals have come via the power play.
Fantastic goaltending: The Panthers made it to the Stanley Cup Final in large part due to heroics from goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
Adin Hill is giving the Golden Knights the same type of dominance in this series. Hill has allowed just nine goals on 120 shots against for a .925 save percentage. He has saved 3.99 goals above expected so far during the series and has stopped 28 of 31 high-danger shots that have come his way.
This and that
▪ With Matthew Tkachuk and Anthony Duclair both missing extended time in Game 4, Maurice deployed a line with center Aleksander Barkov flanked by wingers Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart for much of the second half of the game.
The trio had success. They were the line on the ice for both of Florida’s goals Saturday and had a 5-2 edge in shots on goal during their 6:36 together in five-on-five situations.
Will Maurice go back to that line in Game 5?
“There’s a chemistry between Lundell and Barkov, for sure,” Maurice said. “The limiting factor then is you lose one of your centermen to do that. That’s the challenge. In terms of plans for next game, we’ll have to assess where we are at with the rest of our lineup. You can’t make that decision in isolation.”
Maurice didn’t have an update Sunday morning on any of Florida’s injured players.
▪ Maurice on what the Panthers can do to maximize Tkachuk’s value even if he’s not 100 percent: “Just situational. There are players that will play just power plays. There are guys that will stay on for offensive-zone draws. There are different styles of centers that he can play with to put him in a position to be good at what he can be good at.”
