EDMONTON - Despite being blown out 8-1 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final, the Florida Panthers still have their collective fingers around the Edmonton Oilers鈥 throats.
They may not have swept the best-of-seven Cup final, but they鈥檙e heading back to Sunrise, Fla., with a three games to one lead.
"It's all about us and the team to manage the losses,鈥 said Panthers centre Aleksander Barkov, who was a minus-2 in Saturday's lopsided setback. 鈥淚t only counts as one win, it doesn't matter how much you lose, 2-1 or 8-1 鈥 or you win 2-1 or 8-1.
鈥淥bviously, we need to bounce back and recover now and think about the next one."
While the Panthers got outworked in Game 4, they were quick to point out that the goal was to earn a split in Edmonton 鈥 which they did. The 4-3 win in Thursday's Game 3 gave the Panthers a stranglehold on the series. And, after a long flight back to the Miami area, they know they can skate the Cup around in front of their own fans at Amerant Bank Arena.
It鈥檚 a clich茅, but it鈥檚 true: If you鈥檇 have asked the Panthers last week if they鈥檇 be happy with a 3-1 lead in the series, to a man they鈥檇 have said yes.
鈥淎t the end of the day, it鈥檚 back to the drawing board,鈥 said Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, who was penalized in the second period for delivering a series of punches to star Edmonton forward Connor McDavid鈥檚 face. 鈥淲e win, we learn from it. We put it aside. We lose, same thing.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in an unbelievable spot right now. We came here, after all that craziness, and got a split, and we鈥檙e going home in front of our unbelievable fans that are so excited to see us. And we鈥檙e so excited to play in front of them again.鈥
Rewind to 2021, the last time a 春色直播 team was in the Cup final. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the first three games of the series over the Montreal Canadiens. An overtime goal by Josh Anderson gave the Canadiens a Game 4 win, and sent the series back to Tampa. But the Lightning responded in Game 5 by shutting out the Habs and lifting the Cup.
The Habs may have won Game 4, but they didn鈥檛 come close to winning the war.
And star Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov famously lampooned the Canadiens and their fans for the way they celebrated a sweep-averting win.
鈥淭he fans in Montreal, come on,鈥 Kucherov jibed. 鈥淭hey acted like they won the Stanley Cup last game. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Their final was last series.鈥
Kucherov waited until the Stanley Cup final was over before he delivered that barb. He knew not to give the Canadiens anything that could be pinned to a dressing room bulletin board. Likewise, the Panthers weren鈥檛 going to say anything that would give the Oilers any extra gas for their competitive fires.
So Panthers coach Paul Maurice kept it calm in his post-game press conference.
鈥淚鈥檒l fire up at least one clich茅 for you, so you have something there,鈥 he said to the media. 鈥淲e came into Edmonton to get a split and we got what we needed, but there鈥檚 also a reason for that. Most clich茅s have some merit. 鈥 In general, things will be far more extreme outside your room than inside it.
"So at three-nothing, we鈥檙e not sitting there getting the engravers out. We lost the game tonight. I鈥檓 pretty sure 鈥 I鈥檝e got to check, possibly 鈥 but there鈥檚 going to be a Game 5.鈥
With Game 4 being an elimination game, the Cup was in Rogers Place. But, during the third period, Phil Pritchard 鈥 the famed keeper of the Cup 鈥 was checking phone messages just outside of the NHL officials鈥 area. There was no need to even take it out of the case.
Barkov said having the Cup in the building wasn鈥檛 a distraction for the Panthers.
鈥淏oth teams play for the Cup, and the Cup is going to be in the building at some point, anyways. You have to be ready for that. I don鈥檛 think it was a distraction for us.鈥
It will be in the building again for Game 5. The Panthers hope Pritchard will have the chance to take it out of the case and shine it up for a presentation.
This report by 春色直播was first published June 16, 2024.
