Defending champion Panthers are unfazed after losing Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Oilers
Associated Press
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Going into this Stanley Cup Final rematch, confidence oozed from the Florida Panthers just like last year when they won — and also this time from the Edmonton Oilers because they felt prepared for the moment.
After losing Game 1 in overtime after a puck over the glass penalty put Edmonton on the power play, the Panthers have not lost any of the belief they carried into the series. In a third consecutive final, the defending champions are unfazed by their deficit and appear well equipped to bounce back in Game 2 on Friday night.
'We've got a lot of battle scars on us from the last few years, and we've been through way worse,' winger Matthew Tkachuk said Thursday. "We can be better, we can adjust a few things and come out tomorrow and try to get a win here and get some momentum going back home.'
A win would even things up and put the pressure right back on reigning playoff MVP Connor McDavid, Game 1-winning goal-scorer Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers with play shifting to Sunrise next week. Even a loss would not put the Panthers into desperate straits.
They dropped the first two in the second round against Toronto and trailed 2-0 and 3-1 in Game 3 before rallying to win that night and beat the Maple Leafs in seven. Even for Florida's newcomers, it was evidence that this team doesn't go down easy.
'You're going to have moments in the game and moments in a series that you're going to be riding a roller coaster,' defenseman Nate Schmidt said. 'This team, I think, has an incredible ability to be able to not only learn from what they've done and apply their experience into situations like this.'
Coach Paul Maurice downplayed it as 'just experience," as though every team in the NHL or any sport knows what it is like to make this many deep playoff runs in a row and look borderline unstoppable. Because of that success, the Panthers are who they are, and not a lot of major adjustments are expected.
'It's almost always an adjustment back to form: We were a little off here, we can be a little bit better,' Maurice said. "Nobody's changing a major system. It takes months and years to do that. You're (talking about) adjustments back to form, but I think they have a pretty strong understanding of their foundation.'
Panthers players seem to have a pretty strong understanding of how playoff hockey works. They've won 10 of 11 playoff series since Maurice became coach and Tkachuk arrived in a trade from Calgary in the summer of 2022.
The only time they've been on the wrong side of a handshake line during this stretch was the 2023 final against Vegas, when Tkachuk was sidelined by a broken sternum and several others were playing with significant injuries. The memories of that and falling behind in series along the way stick with them.
'We learn more from adversity than we do from winning,' forward Carter Verhaeghe said. 'Every time you lose games or go through series where you're down 2-0 or losing in the Cup final a couple of years ago, you learn a lot. It's just sticking with it and being mentally strong.'
Tkachuk said he and his teammates are plenty strong mentally, so the tweaks will be more tactical. They won't look too different but have some areas to clean up.
'Maybe a little bit more offensive zone time, some things we look at, but they played a good game,' defenseman Seth Jones said. "They were solid defensively. They blocked a lot of shots. And we kind of knew that coming in there's not a lot of space out there, not a lot of plays to be made, really. So, when we do get those opportunities, try to hold on to the puck and capitalize.'
The Oilers turned the puck over several times in Game 1, with goaltender Stuart Skinner saving them a few times from the score getting more lopsided than the 3-1 deficit they overcame. They figure to be much improved in those areas.
Coach Kris Knoblauch knows his team has to raise its level 'because we know how good Florida is.' The blueprint has been out there for several years, and it's an imposing one.
'They're pretty confident with their identity, and they play to that identity very well,' Knoblauch said. 'They have a lot of confidence that they'll play their game and they should come out on top. For us, we need to just be ready for it — that they are going to be better.'
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
recommended
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox Sports
36 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
A year from World Cup, US tries to right itself after Copa America and CONCACAF Nations League flops
Associated Press One year from hosting the World Cup for the first time since 1994, the U.S. team is struggling to right itself on the field and regain the confidence of a distressed fan base. Shaken by flops at the Copa America and the CONCACAF Nations League, the U.S. plays Turkey on Saturday at East Hartford, Connecticut, and Switzerland on Tuesday at Nashville, Tennessee. The team then heads to the CONCACAF Gold Cup, its last competitive matches until the Americans' World Cup opener on June 12 next year. 'There is a palpable and fair angst and maybe even worse apathy relative to this team given its recent failures,' former American defender and Fox Sports lead analyst Alexi Lalas said Friday. 'A year out from the World Cup, I don't think that many of us predicted that we would be in this frame of mind at this point in time.' After reaching the second round of the 2022 World Cup, the U.S. was eliminated in the group stage of the Copa America last summer, causing the U.S. Soccer Federation to replace coach Gregg Berhalter with Mauricio Pochettino. The Americans then lost to Panama and Canada at the CONCACAF Nations League final four in March. 'We've struggled. We've got beat down ... pegged back a stone, so to speak,' midfielder Tyler Adams, the 2022 World Cup captain, said Friday from the team's training camp in Chicago. 'We need to continue to prove that we are at this level and able to improve." Among the missing are Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Antonee Robinson, Sergiño Dest, Yunus Musah, Folarin Balogun and Gio Reyna. Some are hurt, some want time off and some will be at the Club World Cup. Pochettino's roster includes seven players who could make national team debuts and 15 from Major League Soccer. The group averages 16 international appearances and will compete in a tournament where defending champion Mexico has many of its veterans. 'Good enough? I will let you know after,' Pochettino said. "I think we have quality players and now, of course, we need to build a team, a team that fights for each other and show that we have the quality.' After this tournament, there will be just four more FIFA windows until players arrive for training ahead of the World Cup, and the team will play only non-competition games. 'I don't think there's any denying that some of our performances have fallen short over the past year to 18 months," said 32-year-old defender Walker Zimmerman, a 2022 World Cup veteran. 'It's something that us as players we obviously aren't satisfied with and that's a big focal point for this camp.' Pochettino has selected 59 players since taking over in October. He turned over the roster after the team's dismal showing in March. 'We can lose, but there's a way to lose and I think that what we showed out on the pitch, to the fans, wasn't anywhere near good enough in terms of the mentality and intensity,' goalkeeper Matt Turner said. 'When you lose and then you have so long in between games, you know you obviously think a lot about what could have gone different and you analyze every aspect of environment, player selection and all that. But for us we know from player one to player 60 or however many are in this pool, the minimum standard is that we're going show up and we're going to be intense and we lacked that in Los Angeles.' Diego Luna, a 21-year-old midfielder, impressed Pochettino during his international debut against Costa Rica in January when his nose was broken by an early elbow and he insisted on staying in the game through the first half with cotton stuffed in his nose to absorb the blood. 'That experience for me was, I could say, life-changing," Luna said. 'I think added an opportunity for me to come back into more camps and show the type of the grit and the hunger that I have to play and represent for my country. ... Mauricio really liked that about me and really liked the fight that I had and I think that shows other players that that's what's needed in this team and to fight through everything.' ___ AP soccer: recommended
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Will Panthers make lineup changes for Game 2 of Stanley Cup Final? What Maurice said
The Florida Panthers are sticking with the status quo. Panthers coach Paul Maurice said pregame Friday that there will be no lineup changes for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers after Florida dropped the series opener 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday. 'I'm not changing anything,' Maurice said. The only potential change that could have come would have been forward A.J. Greer drawing in on the fourth line, but he remains out with a lower-body injury that hobbled him during the Eastern Conference final. 'He's on track but he won't go tonight,' Maurice said, 'but we think if he tracks out, he could be available for Game 3.' That means Jesper Boqvist will stay on Florida's fourth line as the left winger with Tomas Nosek at center and Jonah Gadjovich at right wing. Boqvist played just 7:58 in Game 1 and took two shot attempts — one was blocked, the other missed the net — and had one hit. Through 12 playoff games, Boqvist has five points (two goals, three assists) with 38 hits and four blocked shots. Florida's lineup should look as follows for Game 2 on Friday... Forward lines Evan Rodrigues-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Brad Marchand Jesper Boqvist-Tomas Nosek-Jonah Gadjovich Defense pairs Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad Niko Mikkola-Seth Jones Nate Schmidt-Dmitry Kulikov Goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky Vitek Vanecek Maurice reacts to DeBoer firing The Dallas Stars on Friday announced they fired coach Peter DeBoer, a little more than a week after his team lost to the Oilers in the Western Conference final — Dallas' third consecutive season losing in the series before the Stanley Cup Final. 'After careful consideration, we believe that a new voice is needed in our locker room to push us closer to our goal of winning the Stanley Cup,' Stars general manager Jim Nill said in a statement. 'We'd like to thank Pete for everything that he has helped our organization achieve over the past three seasons and wish him nothing but the best moving forward.' Maurice and DeBoer have a relationship going back nearly 40 years, since they were teammates at the junior hockey level in the mid-1980s. 'He'll be all right,' Maurice said. 'With elite teams, you have to push them real hard to where they get to and at some point, you get a summer off, new spot, he's going to be OK.' Nosek talks overtime penalty Nosek on Friday spoke for the first time since his delay of game penalty in the final minutes of overtime in Game 1 that led to the Oilers' eventual game-winning power-play goal by Leon Draisaitl. 'You don't want to be the one guy who costs us a game,' Nosek said Friday. 'Obviously, anybody can make a mistake. It happened in a bad time in overtime and cost us a game. It's in the past and now I'm looking forward to just keep doing my job and focusing on the next game.' Nosek said his teammates have been 'really helpful' with getting him to turn the page and prepare for Game 2. 'Most of the guys came to me and said 'Don't worry about it.'' As for what's key to turning the page after a costly mistake like that? 'I don't think there is one,' Nosek said. 'Everybody makes mistakes. It's a part of the game. It's sport. Just focusing on the same and preparing like any other game.'
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
AP PHOTOS: David Beckham to be awarded a knighthood by King Charles
London, ENGLAND (AP) — David Beckham, the former England soccer captain who has been an ambassador for the U.N. children's fund for two decades, is to receive a knighthood in next week's honors list from King Charles III, according to U.K. media reports Friday. Without citing sources, the BBC said Beckham is set to receive further recognition both for his soccer career, and his contributions to British society. ____ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
