Defending champs 8-2 away from Florida in postseason, including five straight wins
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers are ready.
They know the drill. They know the flight. They know the rink and the road hotel and the city.
The Panthers have been preparing all year for the Stanley Cup Final, for a chance to reach their third straight, for a chance to defend their title. Now, all that’s left is to hop on a plane to Edmonton to get set for Game 1 at Rogers Place on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).
“Ready to go, for sure,” captain Aleksander Barkov said Monday. “We’ve been waiting for a little bit here. Obviously, it was nice to get a couple days off, stay in Florida for a little bit, not to think about anything, but now it starts to feel like, alright, let’s get it going.”
So much of the Cup Final will be the same as it was last season, with the same two opponents facing off in what many expect to go the full seven games once again. But there is a difference, and it’s immediately apparent. Where last season the Panthers hosted the Oilers in Game 1, having earned home-ice advantage, this time they’re headed to Edmonton.
But that, too, is familiar. The Panthers — like the Oilers — have been the road team in each of the first three series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Panthers are 8-2 on the road in the postseason – including five straight wins – embracing, rather than being concerned about, having to win away from the friendly confines of Amerant Bank Arena.
That includes winning Game 7 in Toronto in the Eastern Conference Second Round, and it includes winning the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final — and the clincher in Game 5 — at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, against the Carolina Hurricanes.
“We’re a super-confident team on the road this year,” forward Sam Bennett said. “I think we almost prefer it this year. It’s a little different, less time at home, but we’re up for the challenge.”
Prefer it?
“You have no distractions,” Bennett said. “You’re just with the team, you’re with your guys, and your whole focus is playing hockey. Sometimes that’s a little nice. Especially this time of year, it gets a little busy down here with all the excitement, all the family and friends want to come out. Sometimes that can be nice.”
Previewing the Panthers vs. Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final
Not that it will be easy. Not against a team that has Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl waiting for them in Edmonton. Not against a team that is 6-1 at home this postseason. Not against a team that would host Game 7 if it got that far this year.
“It’s a great challenge for us,” Barkov said. “We all know how great they are, how great of a team they are, how they play. So we have to be ready right from the start and that’s what we’re working at right now.”
The Panthers were third in the Atlantic Division this season, knowing that their finish would likely mean being the road team throughout the playoffs. But as the season wound down, with a difficult ending schedule, the Panthers knew that it mattered more that their players were healthy, that they were prepared for what was to come, rather than fighting to move up and earn home ice.
It has paid off.
“We accepted that, like we knew that we were probably going to have to start every series on the road, and I think we’ve done a good job,” Barkov said. “We accept the challenge and we play exactly the way we want to play.”
It helps that the Panthers at home and the Panthers on the road aren’t much different.
“I don’t think our game changes a whole heck of lot,” coach Paul Maurice said. “We’re not a heavy match team, maybe that’s part of it. We’ve got pretty good forward depth there, so we don’t feel that when we get home and you get home-ice advantage from the match that it’s that big a deal.”
In fact, Maurice pointed out that he felt being at home became a negative in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a series that saw the Panthers win all three road games.
“I felt in Game 3 against Tampa that I actually chased the match more than I should have and took our team out of a rhythm,” he said. “The bench management doesn’t change, so they don’t have to think about the game differently. … You don’t need to feel really good to play for us, you’ve just got to play as hard as you can. You can do that anywhere.”
FLA vs. EDM
FLA vs. CAR | EDM vs. DAL
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