Panthers aren't panicking, but they must do better to close out series: ‘We know we have it in us'

New York Times

6 days ago

SUNRISE, Fla. — In the past couple days, as the Carolina Hurricanes faced the possibility of being swept out of the conference final for the fourth time since 2009 with Rod Brind'Amour either as captain or coach, the critics — OK, us ink-stained and TV talking head 'experts' — questioned everything from Brind'Amour's system and the Hurricanes' analytical approach to their players' courage as the Florida Panthers bullied them all over the ice.
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But that's the fascinating contrast about these Panthers.
As brash and fearless and utterly mean as they can be on the ice, as much as they'll go after you physically and try to get inside your head before, between and after whistles, off the ice they always show respect toward their opponent.
In Game 3, Matthew Tkachuk may have stalked Sebastian Aho all the way up the ice and ultimately jumped him as payback for injuring Sam Reinhart, but he'd never say a bad word about Aho publicly. Brad Marchand may have chirped Jesperi Kotkaniemi endlessly and pointed mockingly to the press box, where the Carolina forward resided in Game 2, but he's not about to make fun of him to reporters. Sam Bennett may have played his heart out and finished every check in the first three games to help Florida build a 3-0 series lead, but he was the first to say between games that the Canes are a proud team who wouldn't go down quietly.
This is the locker room Aleksander Barkov demands.
Paul Maurice, the best quote amongst the NHL's coaching brethren, explained the Panthers' contrast between on-ice … let's call it confidence, and off-the-ice humility the morning before Game 4 with the following analogy:
'Have you ever shotgunned a beer? Have you ever been to church?' Maurice asked a reporter. 'Would you shotgun a beer in church?'
'That doesn't make you a hypocrite. There's a context and a place for all things,' he continued. 'I will tell you they're honest. These men are honest. So that personality … is all real. I hated Matthew Tkachuk — that's a little too strong — when I was in Winnipeg. And then you meet him, and you go, 'Oh my God, what a wonderful human being.
'Now they're hard on the ice. They are. And most of that is driven by how they feel about each other. They don't want to let the other guy down. There's a caring about them. … Barkov's personality is our room. Sam Bennett and his wife are raising money for cats and dogs. Like they're really, really nice people … till the puck drops. Sometimes you say a prayer. Sometimes you shotgun a beer. That's kinda like our team.'
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So it wasn't a shock, after the Hurricanes showed up impressively Monday night and kept their season and Stanley Cup aspirations alive with a 3-0 win, that the Panthers spent more time crediting the Canes than dissecting their shortcomings.
After a loss, it's easy to just look in the mirror and say, 'We played like crap.' But that's not entirely respectful of the other team that also laced up the skates and wanted to win, too.
Sometimes the opponent deserves kudos, and the Canes did a tremendous job from goalie Frederik Andersen on out in forcing a Game 5.
They were more aggressive than the Panthers. They were faster. They had the better sticks and constantly disrupted the Panthers' attempts to make plays. They kept Florida from getting to the dirty area in front of their net. And yes, they stood up to the Panthers' extracurriculars by pushing back and not cowering like it sure felt like they did early in the series, especially in Game 3.
'I haven't been nearly as down on that hockey team as you fine people have been over the last three games, and I won't be as down on my team tonight,' Maurice said.
But the Panthers know they'll need much better to end this series Wednesday night in Raleigh and get some rest before advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for a third year in a row.
It doesn't help that Reinhart, Niko Mikkola (who's having an exceptional playoff run) and A.J. Greer didn't play Monday, but the Canes were also without a couple of significant defensemen in Jalen Chatfield and Sean Walker.
If not for Sergei Bobrovsky, who gave up one goal on 26 shots, the Canes wouldn't have needed a couple of empty-netters by Aho and Jordan Staal to make the final score look more lopsided than it was.
'I didn't like the last two at all,' Maurice said sarcastically, considering Bobrovsky was on the bench for an extra attacker for both. 'His gap was horse—-.'
The Canes were the more desperate team and played like it. Maurice said it reminded him of Game 6 against Toronto last round when the Maple Leafs shut them out in South Florida to force a Game 7.
And we know what happened in Game 7. The Panthers ended things convincingly.
'We've played some really good hockey, so we know we have it in us,' Barkov said. 'We didn't have it today, but it's our job to find it for next game.'
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Everything about the Panthers' game was just a little off Monday night. It was especially highlighted on the power play, where Florida had four shots on four fruitless tries. Again, it doesn't help that Reinhart's missing, so the power play is disjointed and sure looks like it.
They're using two defensemen — Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones — on the first unit, an alignment you don't see too often anymore. And they have a ton of talent on the second unit in Carter Verhaeghe, Marchand and Bennett, so it'll be interesting to see whether Maurice and his staff mix things up if Reinhart can't return Wednesday.
'We were a little hesitant tonight,' Bennett said. 'The last three games, we were aggressive. We had more pace to our game, more jump. Tonight wasn't our game. We sat back. But that's not the norm for us. It's a pretty easy fix to turn that around.
'They played a hard game. They came out like they had nothing to lose and we sat back a bit.'
Even the best teams lose. That's hockey. But the best teams also rebound, and the Panthers usually learn their lessons pretty emphatically.
What was obvious in the losing locker room after Monday's game: there was zero panic.
'I think Carolina played really well,' Barkov said. 'They defended well. They attacked well. It was a great game by them. We were not at our best. They had their best game of the series. They deserved to win today. But it's OK. We learn. We'll recover from this one and move on.'
The Canes are a good team, and they cracked the door open a hair with one victory. But the last thing the Panthers want to do is allow them to swing that door open wider, gain further confidence and suddenly have a Game 6 back in South Florida on Friday night and start leaving things to chance.
'It's a competitive sport, so I'm past seething,' Maurice said. 'I got rid of that before I came to see you tonight. At the end of the day, I have a job to do to get them to play a certain way, look a certain way. I don't think I got that done.'
(Top photo of Gustav Forsling, Brent Burns and Aaron Ekblad: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)