Ahead of Game 4, Panthers trust what worked all year. ‘We think things are going to work’
Game 4 is not quite a must-win for the Florida Panthers in their first-round series against the Washington Capitals, but it’s something close.
Still, the Panthers will not make wholesale changes to their plan, even as they trail the Capitals, 2-1, in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. Florida will not make any significant lineup changes Monday at Capital One Arena in Washington, Andrew Brunette said.
The interim coach changed up his lines and his defensive pairings, but stuck with the same 20 skaters as he used in Games 2 and 3.
The idea is simple: The Panthers were the best team in the NHL all throughout the regular season, winning the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time and setting a franchise record for points, and they don’t want to totally abandon their philosophies just because they’ve fallen behind in a series.
As dire a position as Florida might be in, the Panthers are just one victory from taking back home-ice advantage.
“We think things are going to work. We always move a few things around, so no different tonight,” Brunette said. “We’ve answered the bell all year and tonight’s no difference. We’ve just got to get to our game.”
Although it has won the 5-on-5 minutes in this series by outshooting and outscoring the Capitals, Florida hasn’t dominated in the way a No. 1 seed should against a No. 8. The teams have been separated by just 0.33 expected goals in 5-on-5 action — a measurement factoring both possession time and quality of scoring chances — and the Panthers have averaged just 12.23 high-danger chances per 60 minutes, which is down from 14.29 in the regular season.
The difference on the power play has entirely washed away their marginal 5-on-5 advantage, too. The Panthers are 0 of 9 on the power play in this series, while the Capitals are 4 of 12 and routed Florida, 6-1, on Saturday by going 2 of 6 with a man advantage.
An adjustment on the power play is where Brunette could make a major change without altering his lineup too much and he gave a glimpse of it over the weekend. After Ekblad ran the point on the top power-play unit for the Panthers’ first eight power plays of the series, Brunette sent him to the second unit for the ninth, moving Duclair back up to the top group for the five-forward look Florida used at the end of the regular season, while Ekblad was sidelined with a knee injury.
“We’ve showed all year that we can bounce back from big games, and it’s no different tonight,” Duclair said. “We’re a confident group. We know what to do. We know how to execute things. It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it.”
Capitals’ Tom Wilson remains out
All-Star left wing Tom Wilson did not participate in the Capitals’ morning skate Monday and will miss his third straight game. He officially remains day-to-day, Washington coach Peter Laviolette said.
Wilson scored the first goal of the series Tuesday in Sunrise, but played only three shifts in Game 1 before sustaining a lower-body injury. He has not played since the opening period of the series at FLA Live Arena.
Florida remains at full strength, and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is set to start his fourth consecutive game Monday, even after he missed practice Sunday for maintenance.
This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 2:22 PM.
