The Florida Panthers will leave rainy South Florida for Edmonton this afternoon as the 2024 Stanley Cup Final shifts to Rogers Place for the next two games.
Florida upped its postseason record to 14-5 by winning the first two games of the series 3-0 and 4-1. This is the closest they’ve ever been to claiming the crown in franchise history, but there is still work to be done.
Things got a little ugly in the third period of Game 2 as the Oilers let their frustrations get the best of them. Sam Carrick was fined $2,213.54, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, for slashing Dmitry Kulikov.
Escaping further punishment was Leon Draisaitl, who sent Aleksander Barkov to the dressing room, holding his face, with an illegal. leaping, high hit straight out of the WWE with 9:28 remaining that only drew a roughing minor.
All we officially know about Barkov is that he is “feeling better” than he did on Monday night and head coach Paul Maurice doesn’t consider whatever is wrong with him “sinister.” Whether he plays on Thursday remains up in the air. Fingers crossed.
Before departing, Barkov had two shots on goal in 17:47 of ice time after having two primary assists in 21:06 TOI in Game 1. The captain is tied with Matthew Tkachuk for the Panthers scoring lead with 19 points (6G/13A) and is second among forwards in average ice time (21:31), behind Sam Reinhart (21:51). He has been instrumental in limiting Connor McDavid to one assist thus far.
If Barkov isn’t good to go, the Panthers will simply plug one of Nick Cousins or Ryan Lomberg in, shuffle the lines a bit and stick to the game plan that has seen the Eastern Conference champions absolutely stifle Edmonton’s attack over the last four periods.
All that matters right now is finding a way to win two more games. Any retaliation can wait. The Cats must keep their eyes on the prize.