Latest news with #AaronEkblad
Global News
a day ago
- Sport
- Global News
Oilers and Panthers embroiled in razor-thin Stanley Cup final ahead of Game 3
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook A puck over the glass. A tricky bounce off the glass. The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers have played a razor-thin, extra-time opening to their Stanley Cup final rematch. The teams expect more of the same with the NHL's title series tied 1-1. View image in full screen Oilers winger Evander Kane (91) checks Florida Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad (5) during the first period in Game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup final in Edmonton on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck The Oilers picked up a 4-3 victory in Game 1 on an overtime power-play goal from Leon Draisaitl off a Connor McDavid setup after the Panthers were whistled for delay of game. Story continues below advertisement Florida responded two nights later when Brad Marchand took advantage of a funny hop in the defensive zone before taking a breakaway pass from Anton Lundell to seal a 5-4 double OT triumph. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The Panthers, who won last year's opening Cup act 4-3, host Game 3 on Monday night.
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Sport
- Miami Herald
After excelling on road all playoffs, it's time for Panthers to produce at home in Cup Final
The Florida Panthers have found a way to thrive on the road during this Stanley Cup playoffs run. It's a major reason why they're back in the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, why they're oh so close to repeating as champions. But with their best-of-7 Cup Final series with the Oilers tied 1-1 after opening the series in Edmonton, Florida needs to take advantage of home ice while it has it with the series shifting back to Sunrise for the next two games. Game 3 is at Amerant Bank Arena, with puck drop at 8 p.m. Monday (TNT, truTV, Max). Game 4 is 8 p.m. Thursday. By splitting the first two games in Edmonton — losing 4-3 in overtime in Game 1, winning 5-4 in double overtime in Game 2 — the Panthers can theoretically close out the Cup Final and secure their second consecutive championship by simply winning out on home ice. Florida would also host Game 6 should the series extends that far. 'Our fans buzz at home and we love that,' defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. 'It's really exciting to play in front of them.' But the Panthers haven't done as well on home ice as they have on the road this postseason. Granted, they haven't had as many opportunities to be on home ice either. After finishing third in the Atlantic Division in the regular season, Florida has started all four of its playoff series on the road. The Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the opening round, going 3-0 on the road and 1-1 at home. They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the second round, going 2-2 on the road and 2-1 at home. And they beat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the Eastern Conference final, going 3-0 on the road and 1-1 at home. Add in the 1-1 start on the road in the Stanley Cup Final, and that's a 9-3 record in road games this postseason for the Panthers compared to a 4-3 mark at home. 'We have no choice,' star Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk said of playing well on the road. 'We were going to be on the road for the whole [postseason]. I think every team we were going to play this year in playoffs, especially after the first round, we knew we were going to be on the road for the rest of it. We forced ourselves [into] it. We made our bed and had to sleep in it and now we've got to start on the road, take one game and get home ice back. It's that easy.' The Panthers' simple, direct game — be physical, grind out the opponent, let defense drive the offense — plays regardless of the venue. Florida's depth allows it to overcome the matchup battle that can impact road teams with the home team getting the last change before faceoffs. 'We feel comfortable on the road,' Tkachuk said. 'It's a simple game. It's a hard game. It's an adversity type of game, an adversity type of atmosphere. We've said it a bunch. It's that us against the world mindset, but you really feel it especially being down in a series. Your back's not necessarily against the wall, but you treat it as a big-time must win in a hostile environment, and I feel like that's when we're at our best. So, hopefully we can use that to our advantage.' Added Panthers coach Paul Maurice 'The [home-ice] advantage is marginal. It's fair. It's marginal. A lot of it happens probably just on running your bench in terms of minutes that you put on people when you're on the road and you get a D zone draw, especially when you have the players at the top end like Edmonton has. You run your top end of your bench harder than you will at home. So, you get a little bit of a reprieve there with understanding who's coming out first off whistles.' That said, getting some time at home is definitely a luxury the Panthers aren't taking for granted. 'It's never bad being in your own bed, have a nice home cooked meal,' forward Sam Reinhart said. 'I mean, once the puck drops, you might use the crowd a little bit, you might have that little extra energy. But at this time, it's the two best teams that are left standing. Once that puck drops it's going to be a real battle regardless.' And this series has definitely been a battle. Two overtime thrillers between two evenly matched teams have set the stage for an intriguing Stanley Cup Final so far. And neither team is expecting any letup as the series continues. 'The games speak for themselves,' forward Brad Marchand said. 'It's been a battle. Very intense and a lot of fun to be a part of.'
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Panthers D Aaron Ekblad (hand) participates in practice
Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad participated in an optional practice session on Sunday morning, one day ahead of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Fla. Ekblad sustained an injured left hand after he was hit by a shot from Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse during the second overtime of Florida's 5-4 victory in Game 2 of the finals. Brad Marchand scored later in the session for the Panthers, who tied the best-of-seven series at one win apiece. Ekblad, 29, has recorded 11 points (three goals, eight assists) and averaged 23:58 of ice time in 15 playoff games. He totaled 33 points (three goals, 30 assists) in 56 games during the regular season. Florida made Ekblad the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, and he has spent his entire 11-year career with the franchise. He has 380 points (118 goals, 262 assists) in 732 career games. --Field Level Media Copyright 2025 Field Level Media. All Rights Reserved.
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Sport
- Miami Herald
The latest on Aaron Ekblad after taking puck to hand in Panthers' Game 2 Cup Final win
Take a sigh of relief, Florida Panthers fans. Aaron Ekblad appears to be OK. Panthers coach Paul Maurice on Saturday said the defenseman was fine after blocking a Darnell Nurse shot with his hand in the second overtime of Florida's eventual 5-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday. The blocked shot occurred 4:02 into the second period, with Ekblad's left hand taking the brunt of Nurse's wrist shot from the point. Ekblad skated to the bench in pain and was checked on by a trainer. He managed to play two more shifts in the game before Brad Marchand eventually ended it with his goal 8:05 into the second overtime to tie the best-of-7 series at 1-1. Ekblad has been one of the top point-producing defensemen this Stanley Cup playoffs. He's tied for third in the league among blueliners in points (11) and assists (eight) while being tied for fourth in goals (three) while averaging just shy of 24 minutes of ice time per game. When Ekblad is on the ice at five-on-five this postseason, the Panthers are controlling 56.98 percent of shot attempts — the highest rate among Florida defensemen — while outshooting opponents 145-125 and outscoring them 14-12. Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final is at 8 p.m. Monday from Sunrise's Amerant Bank Arena.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
‘I live and breathe for the Florida Panthers': Pending UFA Aaron Ekblad hopes to re-sign
EDMONTON — Aaron Ekblad was born in 1996 — the same year the Florida Panthers won three playoff rounds. In 2022, the Panthers finally won their first playoff round since — Ekblad's eighth with the Panthers. It feels like the once-No. 1 pick in the draft has played forever. At 29, this is already Ekblad's 11th and what he sure hopes isn't his final season with Florida. Advertisement He has seen a lot of bad in South Florida. And he has lately seen a ton of good as the big, rugged, hard-shooting defenseman plays in his third consecutive Stanley Cup Final and for his second Stanley Cup. With a maximum of six games left in his season after the Edmonton Oilers took a 1-0 series lead Wednesday night with a 4-3 overtime win, Ekblad admits he's trying not to think this could be the end of his line. 'It'll have to be after the season,' the pending free agent said when asked if he worries that this could be it. 'Obviously a thought one way or another has obviously come into my mind. But at the end of the day, we'll see the way it plays out. Everybody knows where I stand.' If you don't, let him tell you when I asked him earlier this week how stressful this situation has become. 'I live and breathe for the Florida Panthers. I bleed for the Florida Panthers,' he said. 'I've given my body and everything to this team, and I want to keep doing it … forever, for as long as they'll let me come to the rink.' Aaron Ekblad has been a part of the long journey to another #StanleyCup Final.@EJHradek_NHL talks with @FlaPanthers former first-overall pick about the road back to the Finals. #TimeToHunt — NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) June 3, 2025 Some fans can be cynical when a millionaire athlete talks about giving his body to a franchise. But if you don't think so, just look at this Panthers' core's first run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023. The difference between them now and then is health. When coach Paul Maurice read off the Florida injuries in his postgame news conference when his team was eliminated in Las Vegas two years ago, the list was endless — especially Ekblad's. He broke his foot in the Boston first-round series, yet didn't miss a game. He tore his oblique in the Carolina third-round series yet didn't miss a game then or in the Stanley Cup Final. Advertisement What's more, 'My shoulder kept coming out three or four times in the playoffs. I feel as good as I've ever felt now. Two years ago was awful. Could barely get out of bed.' After the final round, Ekblad recalled that Brandon Montour 'got surgery on a Friday and I was on a Monday.' 'Both shoulders,' Ekblad said. But, as Ekblad quickly noted, everybody goes through stuff like this when you're a professional hockey player and it's the price of being part of an organization turning into a perennial contender. Ekblad has been a mainstay in the Panthers' lineup since 2014. This year has been a roller coaster of a season. He produced early and finished with 33 points in 56 games. He got hurt in January. And then says he was blindsided when he tested positive late in the season for a banned performance-enhancing substance that he says was unknowingly in something he was taking to help him recover from injuries. He was suspended for the final 18 games of the regular season and the first two games of the playoffs. He was not allowed inside the Panthers' facilities whenever the team was there. He says he drew up his own on-ice programs and skated with buddies like former Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle. And he'd watch defense partner Gustav Forsling's every move during games. 'I'd see something Forzy would do and I tried to mimic it in practice the next day,' he said. 'It was a good lesson in being my own coach for a little bit.' He blamed himself for not checking with the Panthers' docs and trainers to ensure he could take whatever it was he was taking. He said the hardest lesson was his integrity being called into question: 'There's so many ways you look at it — respect and integrity and character, family, name, my teammates, fans.' 'It's been a bit of a roller coaster for myself, and I'm happy to be in this situation now,' he said before hinting at free agency again. 'You're playing for your life, right, in a sense. So it's been a fun experience playing in a contract year, and I'm happy with the way things have gone.' Advertisement For Ekblad, it's gratifying that he has seen this organization go from one spectrum to the other. And he credits everybody but himself. 'We've always had Sasha Barkov, so there's always hope,' he said. 'Especially in those down years, we always had Barky leading the way. It was tough, right? It was tough times, and it was never easy. But we were never that far out of it, but we couldn't get that push. And the way that the organization's turned things around, from top to bottom, GM, ownership, buying in and giving us the opportunities and giving us this beautiful (practice) rink (in Ft. Lauderdale) and all the things that we need to succeed, everyone has really done a fantastic job all the way through.' Ekblad has had a strong postseason (11 points in 14 games) alongside Forsling, but Game 1 didn't go as planned. Florida's top defense pair, in nearly 24 minutes, was on the ice for 1.79 expected goals against at five-on-five, two goals against, 29 shot attempts against, 16 shots on goal against and a minus-1.43 expected goals differential. He had several run-ins with Evander Kane starting early in the game. Kane hammered Ekblad behind the Florida net#LetsGoOilers | #TimeToHunt — Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) June 5, 2025 But the franchise's all-time leader in virtually every category for defensemen is hungry for another Stanley Cup. 'I truly believe that after you win one, you want it that much more,' he said. 'And that's the kind of attitude that I think that all the returning players have. The amount of fun and the excitement that you get from it is incredible, and it makes you want it again that much more. So that's where I pull my energy from.' And then he'll worry about the future. His eight-year, $60 million contract is expiring. The Panthers, with only $19 million in cap space, have a number of free agents to sort through, including Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand. At 29, he'd be coveted by several teams, including Utah and Dallas, in need of solid right-shot defensemen. Advertisement 'I've given everything I can and will continue to give everything that I can to this team,' Ekblad said. 'All the way from the very, very top, they've done such a great job of taking care of us, making Florida such a destination franchise, a place where guys want to come. And it starts with a guy like Sasha Barkov. It's easy to want to play with Aleksander Barkov. It's easy to want to come play with (Sergei Bobrovsky and Matthew Tkachuk). 'And there's been some tough decisions made by management along the way, and all for the betterment of the team.' He just hopes he's not the next tough decision because, as the Panthers lifer said, he hopes to stay 'forever.'
