No lineup changes for Panthers heading into Game 2 in Edmonton
EDMONTON – A split is still on the table.
With a chance to pull even in the Stanley Cup Final, the Florida Panthers will look to steal a win on the road before heading home when they battle the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 at Rogers Place on Friday.
Trailing 1-0 in the series, the Panthers suffered a 4-3 loss in overtime in Game 1.
“I don’t think much will change,” captain Aleksander Barkov said. “Both teams have a pretty good idea of how to play their style. Of course, we know what we can do better, and we’ll just concentrate on that.”
Leading 3-1 in the second period on a pair of goals from Sam Bennett and a power-play strike from Brad Marchand, the Panthers uncharacteristically couldn’t hold their lead in Game 1.
After Viktor Arvidsson cut Edmonton’s deficit to 3-2 early in the second period, Mattias Ekholm netted the equalizer in the third period off a great feed from Connor McDavid.
In overtime, Leon Draisaitl, who’d opened the scoring for the Oilers just 1:06 into the first period, bookended his big night with the game-winning goal at 19:29 of the extra frame, depositing a slick dish from McDavid on the power play for the 4-3 win.
Dating back to 2023, it marked the first time that Florida lost a playoff game when leading after two periods.
“I think we kind of punted the puck away a little bit too much,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “We didn’t stay confident in our game, and they just kind of turned it on against us.”
Becoming just the third different goaltender in the past decade with a 40-save performance in the Cup Final, Sergei Bobrovsky was strong in defeat for the Panthers, stopping 42 of 46 shots.
Of his 42 saves, 11 were labeled as high danger by NaturalStatTrick.com.
“Incredible again,” Bennett said of Bobrovsky, who’s gone 7-3 with a spectacular .939 save percentage over his last 10 starts in the playoffs. “Every night, he keeps us in it. He gives us a chance to win, and that’s all we can ask from our goaltender.”
Heading into Game 2, the Panthers will be making no changes to their lineup as A.J. Greer, who last suited up in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final, remains out with an injury.
With two goals and 45 hits in the playoffs, Greer could possibly return for Game 3.
“He’s on track, but he won’t go tonight,” head coach Paul Maurice said.
For the Oilers, all eyes will be on McDavid and Draisaitl once again.
In Game 1, the two stars combined for two goals and two assists and were particularly lethal when Edmonton opted to stack them together on the same line after falling behind.
Over 9:36 of ice time together at 5-on-5, the line of McDavid, Draisaitl and Corey Perry led 17-7 in shot attempts, 10-2 in shots on goal and owned a 68.54% share of expected goals.
“You just try stay close to him, stay in his face and have a good gap on him,” defenseman Niko Mikkola said of defending McDavid. “In the end, it takes all five guys to defend him.”
In net, Stuart Skinner stopped 29 of 32 shots for Edmonton.
Overall, the numbers ended up fairly even in Game 1.
The Panthers led in scoring chances (41-35), while the Oilers had the edge in shot attempts (89-84), shots on goal (46-32) and expected goals (4.49-3.88), per NaturalStatTrick.com. That said, Edmonton had four trips to the power play, while Florida was awarded just two.
As you’d expect, play should be just as tight in Game 2.
“It’s going to be a long series,” Bennett said.
THEY SAID IT
“We’re a very strong group mentally, so I’d say it’s more technical than mental. We’ve got a lot of battle scars on us from the last few years. We’ve been through way worse than that yesterday. We can be better. We can adjust a few things, come out tomorrow and try to get a win here.” – Matthew Tkachuk
“Any time you can contribute on the biggest stage in our spot, you obviously want to. You look at the game beforehand at what you think you can do to help your team win. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it wasn’t enough for us [in Game 1], but it was something that we as a defensive corps can build on for the rest of the series.” – Nate Schmidt
FIVE CATS STATS
– Carter Verhaeghe leads Florida with five multi-point games this postseason.
– Aaron Ekblad led all skaters with 33:02 of ice time in Game 1.
– Anton Lundell ranks first in the playoffs with a +12 plus/minus rating.
– The Panthers lead 51-25 in goals on the road this postseason.
– Florida is operating at 43.3% on the power play on the road these playoffs.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
Jesper Boqvist – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Friday, June 6 at 8 p.m. ET
Where: Rogers Place – Edmonton, AB
TV: TNT, truTV, Max, SN, CBC, TVAS
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 92.1 WZZR-FM & 1230 WBZT-AM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); Panthers App; SiriusXM Channel 220 / App & Streaming 931
Watch Party: Amerant Bank Arena
