After blowout loss in Game 4, Panthers keeping emotions in check with Stanley Cup in sight
Make no mistake about it: The Florida Panthers know they were far from their best on Saturday in their first chance to clinch the Stanley Cup. The final score, an 8-1 blowout at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, paints that picture clearly.
Florida deviated from its game too much. The shutdown defense was nowhere to be seen. The Oilers rushed and rushed and rushed some more and seemingly found a way to score each time they had a good opportunity in front of them.
“We didn’t play as well as we wanted to,” Panthers captain Aleskander Barkov said. “So that’s the end result. We lost.”
But the Panthers aren’t going to let one loss define this series. Losses happen, even blowouts. They still lead the best-of-7 set 3-1 with their second chance to win the series — and the first Stanley Cup in franchise history — coming at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena.
They are, however, going to learn from it.
At this point, that’s really all they can do. They can’t worry about what could have been, but they can correct the mistakes that happened.
“It’s all about us and the team to manage the losses,” Barkov said. “Obviously it only counts as one win [for Edmonton]. It doesn’t matter how much you lose — 2-1 or 8-1. We need to bounce back.”
The Panthers have shown a knack for doing just that in the playoffs. They have only lost consecutive games once this postseason — a pair of overtime losses to the New York Rangers in Games 2 and 3 of the Eastern Conference final. Florida had rattled off six consecutive wins since those defeats before losing on Saturday.
“We haven’t lost a game in a while until tonight,” Panthers star winger Matthew Tkachuk said postgame. “At the end of the day, just back to the drawing board. We win, we learn from it and we put it aside. We lose, same thing. We’re in an unbelievable spot right now.”
They have also delivered a big blow in the game immediately following a big loss.
After Florida lost 6-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the first round, the Panthers blitzed the Lightning for a series-clinching 6-1 win in Game 5.
And after the Boston Bruins handed Florida a 5-1 loss to begin the second round, the Panthers responded with with wins of 6-1 and 6-2 in the next two games.
“The emotions of a team in pro sports are going to go up and down. That’s just a fact,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “The further you get into the playoffs, the more emotions there are and sometimes the swings are greater. You rely on those veterans not to ignore the emotions or pretend they’re not there, but just keep it in a fairly narrow band so we’re not swinging almost too high or too low.
“It was very almost quiet in our room after the first three [wins],” Maurice added, “and it was quiet at the start last night after the game, but by the time we got back to the meal room, we were back talking to each other and at breakfast this morning there was a lot of chatter. Keep the emotional bandwidth narrow.”
That can be easier said than done in situations like this. Saturday was the first opportunity in franchise history to clinch the Stanley Cup. Florida got swept in 1996 by the Colorado Avalanche and lost to the Vegas Golden Knights last year in their only other trips to the Stanley Cup Final.
The emotions of what could have been — a sweep to clinch, the Cup being in the building, a year-long journey coming to its triumphant end — was all there for the Panthers heading into the game.
And then the puck dropped. And Edmonton’s desperation coupled with Florida’s uncharacteristic performance resulted in a rout.
The Oilers jumped up 3-1 after the first period and 6-1 after two frames. Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled after giving up five goals in 25 minutes.
And so the series continues, with the Panthers awaiting their next opportunity to wrap up the series.
“You come to the rink to clinch. That’s first and foremost,” Maurice said. “And then you get a little bit of a reality check and then you get back to hockey. That’ll be our goal here over the next two days.”
Added Tkachuk: “Very disappointing to not win, but a lot of things to learn from. Come back with a game plan in Game 5 and be ready to go and we’ll try to win it at home.”
This story was originally published June 16, 2024 at 12:56 PM.
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