The Panthers have dominated on the road this playoffs. Game 1 vs. Carolina was no exception
The Florida Panthers have started every series in this Stanley Cup playoffs on the road. That’s the price that came with finishing third in the Atlantic Division after a rough stretch to close the regular season during which they faced a tight schedule and rested players ahead of their eventual playoff push.
Being away from home hasn’t fazed them all that much.
In fact, it’s where they have thrived.
After Florida’s 5-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final on Tuesday at Raleigh’s Lenovo Center, the Panthers are 6-2 in road games this postseason. They have outscored opponents by 20 goals (38-18) on the road.
Game 2 is back at the Lenovo Center at 8 p.m. Thursday (TNT, truTV, Max).
“We don’t feel necessarily any different at home than we do on the road,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I think it’s because they like each other. They stick together on the bench. That’s a big part of playing on the road because you’re at an emotional deficit. Every time your opponent shoots the puck at home, the crowd goes nuts, right? You feel you can rip one off the bar and you don’t hear anything. You get no positive feedback on the road, so it all has to come from the bench. The closer your group is, the more often we get it from the bench. ... They’re constantly reinforcing the positive that you’re not getting from anywhere else on the road. It can be quiet on that bench on the road at times, if you let it, so I think that emotional energy comes from the players to the players.”
On Tuesday, Florida stuck to its fundamentals and turned in a dominant performance, even though Maurice pumped the breaks on just how well his team played despite the final score.
“I didn’t love our game tonight, but I understood it,” Maurice said postgame before relenting Wednesday morning that their performance was “better on video than behind the bench.”
Florida scored five times on just 20 shots on goal against Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen, who had allowed no more than three goals in any of his first eight starts this playoffs and entered the series with a 1.36 goals against average.
Carter Verhaeghe, Aaron Ekblad, A.J. Greer, Sam Bennett and Eetu Luostarinen all found the back of the net, continuing Florida’s trend of getting scoring production from all throughout the lineup.
Sergei Bobrovsky was dominant in net, stopping 31 of 33 shots. The only goals he allowed were a deflection by Sebastian Aho with 16 seconds left in the first period and a Jackson Blake power play goal with 3:41 left to play when the game was all but decided.
The forecheck was heavy. The scoring chances were about even through the first two periods before Carolina got desperate late.
Just about everything worked in the Panthers’ favor.
“It was a tight game, tight checking both ways,” Ekblad said. “We’re two of the tightest-checking teams in the league. The idea is to keep those shot attempts down and get more of our own. Obviously, if you have the puck, that’s a big part of it too, right? Our forecheck’s a big key to our game, so I figure that imposes that situation.”
And this wasn’t just a one-off.
The Panthers have been doing this on the road all postseason. All five of Florida’s wins by at least three goals this playoffs have come away from Amerant Bank Arena. Over their past three road games — Games 5 and 7 of the second-round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Game 1 against Carolina on Tuesday — Florida has outscored opponents 17-4.
“It’s just a game that travels,” Ekblad said. “It’s unwavering home or away. We’re comfortable with anybody playing against anybody, so matchups aren’t a problem, and confidence in playing that game with yield that result. We trust in it.”
That trust stems from experience. The Panthers have been here before, have won big games before. The expectation is to perform like this.
Tuesday was just the latest example of how this team rises to the occasion.
“We love to win. That’s why we are here,” Bennett said. “That’s why we put in all these hours, that’s why we do the hard things that are necessary to win. It’s because we love it so much, and we have one goal in mind.”
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