So, when Evan Rodrigues scored early in the second period Saturday night to put Florida ahead by two in Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena, the message was clear: This year, regardless of how the series ends, will feature a different version of the Panthers.
Led by 32 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, who was magnificent as he kept the high-octane Oilers off the scoresheet, Florida beat Edmonton, 3-0, to take its first series lead in a Stanley Cup finals. The Panthers managed just 18 shots on goal, but opportunistic conversion on their scoring chances gave them the cushion they needed. Game 2 is Monday night.
“We’ve got lots of room to improve,” Florida Coach Paul Maurice said, “which is the positive for us tonight.”
Maurice said Saturday morning that, this time last year, the Panthers had just 14 “reasonably healthy” players on the ice for practice the day before the finals began. This time around, 27 players skated for Florida on Friday, and the well-attended optional morning skate Saturday underscored the Panthers’ health.
No team is fully healthy at this time of year, after an 82-game regular season and three rounds of the playoffs, but Florida appears about as close as it gets. And with a chance to “write our new story” after losing in last year’s finals, as Anton Lundell put it Saturday morning, the Panthers jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back.
On Florida’s first shot, Carter Verhaeghe beat Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner (15 saves) off a cross-zone backhand feed from captain Aleksander Barkov to put the Panthers ahead 3:59 in.
A tripping penalty on Edmonton defenseman Mattias Ekholm gave Florida a chance to extend its lead, but the Oilers killed off the power play, extending their penalty kill streak to 29 — before it grew to 30 in the third period. Edmonton has not allowed a power-play goal since Game 3 of its second-round series against Vancouver on May 12.
The Oilers’ vaunted power play had its own chance in the first period after Gustav Forsling tripped Connor McDavid, but the Panthers — led by Bobrovsky’s effort between the pipes, as they were all night — held Edmonton at bay. Florida repeated the feat when Verhaeghe went to the box with nine seconds left in the period for high-sticking Evan Bouchard and again when Sam Bennett interfered with Leon Draisaitl midway through the second period.
It wasn’t a lack of chances that kept the Oilers from cutting into their 2-0 deficit, forged when Rodrigues beat Skinner at 2:16 following a hustle play by Bennett. Bobrovsky proved impossible to beat, even as threatening scoring chances by Edmonton’s top players piled up.
“Overall, we played a pretty good game,” Oilers Coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We had some chances to score goals that didn’t go in. We know that Florida, probably that wasn’t their best game. Anticipate them to be much better the next game.”
Bobrovsky’s highlight-reel stops during Bennett’s penalty brought the sold-out crowd to its feet as it waved rally towels and chanted “Bobby! Bobby!”
Even Skinner, at the other end of the ice, was impressed by Bobrovsky’s performance.
“To be honest, I’m just watching,” Skinner siad. “Not much I can do. He made some spectacular saves, and I can’t do anything but say, ‘Wow, that was a really nice save.’ ”
Early in the third period, Bobrovsky stopped McDavid — one of hockey’s brightest talents, who often seems to score at will — from close range as McDavid drove toward the right post. McDavid’s reaction was more resignation than frustration; Bobrovsky was simply too good, in that moment, to let anything past him.
“Maybe it was the hockey Gods getting us back for that Game 6 (versus Dallas in the Western Conference final), where we probably didn’t deserve to win,” McDavid said. “Tonight maybe we deserved at least one goal, maybe two, and we don’t find a way to get them.”
Florida’s defense stemmed the steady flow of Edmonton’s scoring chances for large stretches of the final period, and Bobrovsky continued his dominance as the final minutes ticked off the clock. When the Oilers should have been making a desperate push to break through, the Panthers took control instead.
The chants for Bobrovsky returned during an Oilers timeout with 1:21 left, ahead of a defensive zone faceoff for Florida after Bobrovsky covered a backhand try by McDavid that skittered across the crease.
The fans were back on their feet for the final minute, waiting for the final horn to sound on Florida’s second win in a Stanley Cup finals. They got more than that to celebrate: Eetu Luostarinen hit the empty net with 4.4 seconds remaining, sealing a victory that never seemed in doubt, due in large part to Bobrovsky’s brilliance in the crease.
“He’s just been unreal,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “His preparation is incredible. His work ethic, his character, everything you want in a teammate, especially a goalie. He is everything. Very impressed with the way he played tonight, especially early, but honestly, through the whole night he was really good and he was there for us.”