Matthew Tkachuk said after G5 that he felt "we were gripping our sticks too tight". Coach Paul Maurice inserted a loosey-goosey type into the starting lineup before G6. They all see it, they all feel it; diagnosis is not the same as cure.
The Florida Panthers’ lead in the Stanley Cup Final is gone. Their confidence seems to be, too.
The Panthers went right to work on their mental state in a locker room meeting following their 5-1 loss…
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The determined Panthers team that was on a mission to win the Cup for the first time after losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Final last season has unraveled...
It is surprising. Florida is the veteran team that has been there before. The young novitiate "Oilers", with the weight of 1M who have no other interests besides thawing ice, and of all of Canada on them, would have been odds-on to crumble. Nope.
They...will need to regroup and find a way to regain their composure.
Florida fell behind in the first period and never led in each of its first three attempts to close out the series.
I thought, I could be wrong, that Paul Maurice deliberately had his "Panthers" begin G6 as the hitting, bone-rattling physical team. If not, it was a good theory. It didn't work but if that was the theory it was a good one. Football players say the jitters disappear with the first hit. But it didn't work 😁
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The Panthers played all season with a poise and purpose after losing in the Cup Final last season. That carried them through the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers and the first three games against the Oilers.
Yeah, and that is surprise too. Last year their goal was to be "annoying" to the other team. The "Golden Knights" ignored the annoyers. This year--all season--they played with seasoned maturity...until these last three games.
In a series that has made fools of the prognos, who knows, maybe playing with the desperation that the "Oilers" have for three straight games, is Florida's entree to the red carpet and the Stanley Cup on the dais on the Sunrise ice. I'm not making a prediction but the "Panthers" mental state is the immense obstacle on that path. Maurice and the players have said the right things after L's and have changed tactics, to no avail. G7 is on a summer Monday night, June 24 at 8 pm.
