Panthers' ability to agitate is ‘part of their DNA.' It's on display in the Cup Final
Jonah Gadjovich made a new fan on Monday.
After the Florida Panthers' 6-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, local ABC affiliate WPLG aired an interview that went viral with a 9-year-old Panthers fan named Sophia who said her favorite part of the game is 'the fighting.'
She got to see a lot of it in the third period Monday, with Gadjovich leading the way.
A full line brawl broke out midway through the final frame, when the Panthers were already up 5-1, after Edmonton's Trent Frederic attempted to ambush Florida center Sam Bennett, who has been in the agitator role at several points throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs. A missed punch to the back of Bennett's head was followed by a cross-check to his back that broke Frederic's stick.
Everyone on the ice got into a full-on brawl at that point, with Gadjovich and Edmonton's Darnell Nurse going at it for a lengthy fight with multiple big punches blown before both of them and three other players were sent off with misconducts.
Gadjovich, upon hearing about Sophia's interview, could only laugh.
'It's funny. I'm glad she enjoyed it,' Gadjovich, who has been in his share of heavyweight bouts during his two seasons with Florida, said Wednesday. 'I'm not really trying to teach kids to do that, but I hope they enjoyed the rest of the game too. For us, the biggest part was just getting the win. The fans probably enjoyed that as well.'
For sure, the win was fun, too, and it has the Panthers leading the best-of-7 series 2-1 heading into Game 4 at 8 p.m. Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena (TNT, truTV, Max).
But the Panthers got to that point by once again being able to get under an opponent's skin. They agitate, frustrate and toe the line. They do just enough to unravel the opponent and let them make the costly mistake.
'That's part of their DNA,' Oilers star Leon Draisaitl said. 'That's what they do.'
Florida did it Monday, and by design.
'We have to play in between whistles, especially with a team that has such a good power play,' said Panthers forward A.J. Greer, who like Gadjovich is a physical fourth-line winger. 'We know what to do. We know our job, but we try to frustrate them with how little time they have with the puck. ... That's how we have to play. That's how we have to frustrate them, and then that'll translate to us getting power plays, right? That's how we view it, and that's how our game plan is.'
They'll look to replicate that game plan again on Thursday.
'They're going to want to answer for the game that just happened. We're expecting their best,' Gadjovich said. 'At the end of the day, we just focus on us and in our game. That's all we have time for, and that's got to be our main focus.'
As for his fight and Florida's response as a whole from the fracas, Gadjovich was pleased with how the Panthers 'stuck together as a team' in the moment.
The roar from the crowd as he went to the penalty box and then eventually to the dressing room felt good to hear, too.
'We all got each other's backs,' Gadjovich said. 'I got tied up with Nurse. We were stuck together for a couple minutes there. It felt pretty long. At the end of it, we love playing at home. I love playing at home. It's fun to feed off the crowd, because they're so loud and so supportive of us. It's just kind of one of those things, skating into the box, looking up, and just appreciating where I'm at, kind of just soaking it all in. But it was fun.'
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