We’ve almost reached the end of the off-week between the Conference Finals and the start of the Stanley Cup Final when the Florida Panthers will finally host the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 tomorrow night at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers will bring a balanced attack to series. Fourteen of the twenty skaters that have suited up for the Cats in the playoffs have lit the lamp at least once, led by Carter Verhaeghe’s nine goals. Sam Reinhart, who scored 57 times in the regular season, is right behind Verhaeghe with eight. Reinhart’s 65 combined goals is a franchise record. Each player has scored four times on the power-play.
Although he leads the club in scoring with 19 points, Matthew Tkachuk needs to take a more active role in providing goals. Tkachuk scored 11 times last postseason with four of those markers being game-winners.
This year, he has only collected a total of five goals. He delivered the opening salvo in both the second round against Boston and the Eastern Conference Final against New York and then went a bit quiet afterwards, registering four assists over the last five games of each series.
If the Panthers could get a series out of Tkachuk like last’s years performance against the Bruins (5G/6A in seven games) or Carolina (4G/1A in four games) it would be huge and likely result in the first-ever title for the club.
Captain Aleksander Barkov is enjoying the best playoff run of his career with six goals and 17 points. While he deserves every bit of props he’s getting for his excellent two-way performance, Barkov needs to bury the high-quality chances he gets in this series. Yes, he’s been fabulous, but has left some goals on the table.
Another former Flame, Sam Bennett, could also be the deciding factor. A hand/wrist injury early in the first round cost Bennett five games, as he has gotten healthier his impact has grown. Bennett scored in the last three games against the Rangers and finished the series with four goals and six points.
An adjustment by Paul Maurice, moving Vladimir Tarasenko down the lineup, seemed to spark Florida’s third line late in ECF. Anton Lundell scored a colossal goal in Game 5 off an assist from Eetu Luostarinen, and the two hard-working Finns combined to set up Tarasenko’s series-winner in Game 6. Tarasenko hadn’t scored since Game 3 against Boston before he ended the Rangers season.
The Panthers will need contributions from up and down the roster to offset Edmonton’s dazzling array of top-end talent.
Connor McDavid leads the league in postseason scoring with 31 points. Leon Draisaitl is right behind him with ten goals and 28 points. Evan Bouchard is leading all defenseman with a gaudy 27 points. Zach Hyman is tops in goal-scoring with 14, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is having the best postseason of his career with 20 points.