Copyright 2024 The Related Press. All Rights Reserved.
A Florida Panthers fan reacts throughout a watch get together for Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate between the Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Dawn, Fla. The Oilers gained 5-1 to even the collection. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald through AP)
Florida Panthers followers react throughout a watch get together for Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate between the Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Dawn, Fla. The Oilers gained 5-1 to even the collection. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald through AP)
Florida Panthers gamers put together to go away the ice after Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Edmonton Oilers gained 5-1 to tie the collection. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press through AP)
Florida Panthers’ Gustav Forsling (42) and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (72) comply with the puck as Edmonton Oilers’ Zach Hyman (18) tries to get to it in the course of the third interval of Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Oilers gained 5-1 to tie the collection. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press through AP)
A Florida Panthers fan reacts throughout a watch get together for Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate between the Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Dawn, Fla. The Oilers gained 5-1 to even the collection. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald through AP)
A Florida Panthers fan reacts throughout a watch get together for Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate between the Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Dawn, Fla. The Oilers gained 5-1 to even the collection. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald through AP)
Florida Panthers followers react throughout a watch get together for Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate between the Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Dawn, Fla. The Oilers gained 5-1 to even the collection. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald through AP)
Florida Panthers followers react throughout a watch get together for Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate between the Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Dawn, Fla. The Oilers gained 5-1 to even the collection. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald through AP)
Florida Panthers gamers put together to go away the ice after Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Edmonton Oilers gained 5-1 to tie the collection. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press through AP)
Florida Panthers gamers put together to go away the ice after Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Edmonton Oilers gained 5-1 to tie the collection. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press through AP)
Florida Panthers’ Gustav Forsling (42) and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (72) comply with the puck as Edmonton Oilers’ Zach Hyman (18) tries to get to it in the course of the third interval of Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Oilers gained 5-1 to tie the collection. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press through AP)
Florida Panthers’ Gustav Forsling (42) and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (72) comply with the puck as Edmonton Oilers’ Zach Hyman (18) tries to get to it in the course of the third interval of Sport 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Ultimate, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Oilers gained 5-1 to tie the collection. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press through AP)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — It’s the best provide a workforce may get in the beginning of each season: Attain Sport 7 of the Stanley Cup Ultimate, and as an added bonus, play host to it in your rink.
One sport. For every little thing.
“Yeah, 32 groups are all-in on that concept,” Florida coach Paul Maurice mentioned.
That is the truth for the Maurice and the Panthers. On one hand, the Panthers have blown a 3-0 collection lead towards the Edmonton Oilers on this Stanley Cup Ultimate. On the opposite, there’s nonetheless Sport 7 on Monday night time in Dawn, Florida. And earlier than his workforce took off on the 5 1/2-hour flight again house from Alberta on Saturday, Maurice insisted his workforce will give attention to the chance that awaits, not the alternatives that had been wasted whereas dropping Video games 4, 5 and 6 by 8-1, 5-3 and 5-1 scores.
“I’m not involved in regards to the previous in any respect,” Maurice mentioned. “Our plan is ready. It began final night time after the sport. Met this morning, did video, do the identical tomorrow, get able to play. I do know it’s 3-3. The priority of the earlier three video games definitely didn’t have an effect on Edmonton and it gained’t have an effect on us.”
There are many numbers swirling round proper now and actually, none of them are good for the Panthers. The Oilers turned simply the third workforce in Stanley Cup Ultimate historical past to go down 3-0 in a collection and drive Sport 7; the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs did it and beat the Detroit Purple Wings in Sport 7, whereas the Wings erased a 3-0 deficit towards the Leafs in 1945 however then misplaced the finale.
And these Oilers at the moment are the sixth workforce to have three consecutive video games with not less than 5 targets within the title collection. The opposite 5 — Pittsburgh in 1991, Edmonton in 1984, the New York Islanders in 1981, Toronto in 1932 and Montreal in 1919 — all gained the Cup.
“It’s good to be round this workforce as a result of I believe they’re having the time of their lives proper now,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch mentioned. “Not simply because we’re going to Sport 7, however I believe we had been having a good time after we had been down three video games.”
The Panthers will not be having a good time. That would change Monday. Or else.
The stigma of being the primary workforce since 1942 to waste a 3-0 lead within the Stanley Cup Ultimate is the type of factor that might hang-out a franchise for a protracted, very long time. It would inevitably carry questions in regards to the futures for many individuals within the group. It may carry a sudden finish to all of the momentum Florida has constructed within the final 4 years, after spending a lot of the earlier 20 years being largely irrelevant.
Or they might simply win Monday and clear up all these issues.
“Embracing that’s the key to it,” Maurice mentioned. “Feeling optimistic about and feeling enthusiastic about it, and that’s coming. Each groups get that chance to really feel fired up. Sport 7, Stanley Cup Ultimate, it’s set for each younger man’s desires. No one ever dreamt a few Sport 4 additional time winner. It’s at all times Sport 7.”
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
Copyright 2024 The Related Press. All Rights Reserved.
