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Why is the NHL tilted in Florida's favour? Lightning, Panthers hold six-year run on Eastern Conference dominance

Why is the NHL tilted in Florida's favour? Lightning, Panthers hold six-year run on Eastern Conference dominance

Ottawa Citizen2 days ago

Coral Gables, Fla. — It's Sunday night, and the arena parking lot is filled with people lugging hockey bags towards the main doors.
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But we're not in a small town in Canada. We're in Coral Gables, Fla., where hockey leagues are very much alive and well at the Panthers IceDen.
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There are three games going on three sheets of ice. But one stands out — the Panthers Warriors are on the wrong end of a 10-3 drubbing, but the team is notable. Its players are all veterans or people who support American vets, and the program is supported by the NHL club.
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'It's the hardest sport I've ever played in my life,' said Ryan Teems, a 32-year-old U.S. Army vet.
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Three years ago, Teems didn't even know how to properly tie up skates. But, now, he's playing regularly.
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'I got out of the Army in 2020 and somebody took me to a hockey game,' said Teems, who spent six years in the infantry. 'I'd never been to one. I watched it and fell in love. Then I bought Panthers' season tickets. And then I was going to the bathroom at one of the games, and right above the urinal, it said, $500 to learn to play, full equipment and all that. So that's when I got into it.'
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In 1998, the Panthers moved to what's now known as the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., about a 40-minute ride on the expressway from Miami, if the traffic goes your way. It is the definition of a suburban arena, close to the freeway and surrounded by thousands of parking stalls. The team relocated its training facility to nearby Coral Gables, taking what was a two-sheet community hockey facility, adding a third rink with a dressing room, and re-christening it as the Panthers IceDen.
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But that wasn't enough. In 2023, construction was completed on a new $65-million dedicated Panthers practice facility in Fort Lauderdale. The team and municipal officials put together a plan for an arena with two ice sheets. The adjoining War Memorial Auditorium was renovated. It's got a food court, stage, and the Panthers even held their 2024 Stanley Cup ring ceremony there. It has a team shop, and Stanley Cup parties are hosted there. Most of the players live close to the IcePlex, and many ride bikes or Vespas to practice. The team also has golf carts on standby for players if they want to zip home and back.
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Panthers' general manager Bill Zito has heard the complaints. He's heard sniping from different corners of the league, that Florida teams have unfair advantages over their NHL counterparts. The 2025 Cup final between the Panthers and Oilers marks the sixth consecutive season that a Sunshine State-based team has won the Eastern Conference. The Tampa Bay Lightning took three in a row, and now its the Panthers' turn to threepeat in the East. These two are divisional rivals to the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, so this is what these Canadian franchises are fighting, year after year.

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'Love it': Master tactician Kris Knoblauch pulls "fast one," this time on hockey media
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Stanley Cup game control: A question of style, puck possession and exploiting mistakes
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(Lynne Sladky/AP) The Oilers' Trent Frederic said maintaining control of the puck more often – and staying out of the penalty box; Florida scored on three of 11 power-play chances in Game 3 – helps keep the Panthers in check. 'When they have a lot of power plays, even if they're not scoring, their star players are getting touches on the puck and feeling good about themselves,' the forward acquired from the Boston Bruins in late January said Tuesday. 'You never really want that to start. They're good at playing that game, and I've played them in multiple series ... It feels like they're doing more but (they're) getting more penalties (to go on the power play), so they're good at that.' Also handcuffing the Oilers to a degree is a hesitancy because of depth concerns on the part of head coach Kris Knoblauch and his staff to go to their nuclear option: Activating the dynamic duo of McDavid and Draisaitl by putting them on an even-strength line together, something Knoblauch and every coach before him have relied on to kick-start the team's offence. 'With what we have right now, to run those two together for long periods of time makes it more difficult for our depth on our team,' Knoblauch told reporters on Wednesday. 'At points, it's very beneficial to have them playing together, but especially with the absence of Zach Hyman, it makes it a little more difficult putting those two together.' Stanley Cup Oilers Panthers Hockey Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand (63) watches as a shot by center Carter Verhaeghe enters the goal against Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) during the first period of Game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup final Monday, June 9, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (Lynne Sladky/AP) If there's any solace in Monday's loss for the Oilers, it's that they've experienced such a low before. Just last year against the very same team in the very same high-stakes final series, never mind in other series leading up to the Final both this year and last. Face it, the Oilers faced even longer odds last June while staring down the barrel of a three-games-to-none gun held by these very same opponents. Ekholm said his team has 'played better this year to start the first three than we did last year.' 'Obviously, the result shows that, but also, we have a better understanding of what needs to be done out there,' he said. 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Healthier Panthers are nearing full strength in the Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers
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Winnipeg Free Press

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The bumps and bruises and worse started to pile up midway through the Florida Panthers' third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Matthew Tkachuk only returned for the playoff opener after sitting out the final two months of the regular season with the injury he suffered at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and seems to still be gutting through it. Sam Reinhart and Niko Mikkola each missed time during the Eastern Conference final, and A.J. Greer's injury he tried playing through eventually sidelined him. 'It's very hard to win a Cup with unhealthy bodies,' Greer said. The Panthers found that out the hard way two years ago when they were the skating wounded. Tkachuk had a broken sternum, Aaron Ekblad had a broken foot, two shoulder dislocations and a torn oblique muscle, Radko Gudas had a high ankle sprain and they lost to Vegas in five games in the final. While the Edmonton Oilers looked to be in better shape going into this series with the notable exception of injured forward Zach Hyman, Florida has gotten healthier. Coach Paul Maurice said Reinhart is 'back to full health,' Tkachuk, Mikkola and Greer are making a difference and the defending champions are two wins away from hoisting the Cup for a second year in a row. 'It's always good to have a full team that's healthy,' fourth-liner Tomas Nosek said after practice Wednesday. 'It's been good so far, and hopefully it stays that way.' The Panthers will have their ideal lineup for Game 4 on Thursday night in Sunrise after that same group waxed Edmonton 6-1 earlier this week to take a 2-1 lead in the final. Other than do-it-all defenseman Seth Jones, no one played more than 23 minutes in Game 3. That balance, after so much overtime hockey early in what looked to be an evenly matched series, combined with an extra day between games, makes them rested and ready. 'We've been, I think, great the whole playoffs,' center Anton Lundell said. 'It doesn't really matter when we play. It's always fun to play, so we don't really care. But obviously now we have had a couple days off, so it's fun to get the energy back and prepare.' Reinhart scoring Monday night was his first goal since being out for two games in the Eastern Conference final, ending a drought that dated to the second round against Toronto. He had six shots in Game 2 and has been steadily progressing. 'I'm not worried about him,' Maurice said. 'I think his game is getting stronger — quite a bit stronger.' So is Tkachuk's, even if it's clear the tough winger is not moving as well as he does when 100%. But he had an assist and was noticeably better in Game 3, which Maurice called Tkachuk's best of the playoffs. 'It took him a while to build out,' Maurice said. 'The speed of the Carolina series was probably a really, really good thing. Some of these injuries I'm sure they're dealing with it, you can't condition them and rehab them at the same time. They need some time. And he was out for such a very long time that I would say the last month, but certainly the last three weeks, he's back to form now.' That spells trouble for the Oilers, playing without Hyman and with top-line forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins dealing with an undisclosed injury that has him relegated him to game-time-decision uncertainty. Their longest-tenured player not being 100% is a major blow after Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Hyman were such an effective trio getting to this point. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Coach Kris Knoblauch foreshadowed a lineup change that may or may not be injury related. Either way, his team's depth is being tested. The same has been the case for the Panthers, who have used 22 skaters in the playoffs following 30 during the season. They've grown accustomed to shuffling players in and out and chugging along like some of the NHL's best teams have to do. 'With our depth this year, even when guys are injured or guys are out of the lineup, there's just so much depth on our team that guys can fill in seamlessly and it doesn't change our lineup that much,' Bennett said. 'That's definitely a huge factor for us.' ___ AP NHL playoffs: and

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