It's easy to get frustrated at the smallest of gaffes when winning comes so naturally to a team. The Florida Panthers haven’t done much losing this season and through the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final, they did not lose at all. As the series heads to a sixth game, the Panthers are staring down the possibility of a Game 7 at home and three blown chances at clinching a championship.
Florida lost consecutive games for only the second time this postseason following a 5-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. The Panthers made things interesting after trailing 3-0, cutting the deficit to one goal early in the third period. They couldn’t find that equalizing goal though and the Oilers finally clinched the victory with an empty net goal in the final 20 seconds.
It's safe to say the Panthers did not plan on going back to Edmonton in this series. General manager Bill Zito was none too pleased with the loss and took it out on an empty water bottle.
That is not the sign of a man who is confident at the moment. Does that look like the architect of a franchise one win away from a championship? It's unclear if the rest of the Panthers front office and team staff feel similarly, but they’re at least putting up a calm front. It's a smart move not letting the opponent know how you truly feel in one of the team's most vulnerable moments.
Panthers not fazed by another miss at title
Teams rarely hold a three-game lead in the Stanley Cup Final, yet the Panthers found themselves a win away from the first championship sweep in the NHL since 1998. Two games later, Florida is still one win shy of a title and is staying the course with possibly two games remaining in the season.
Head coach Paul Maurice is not treating or approaching his players any differently just because they are on the verge of a championship. He was proud of how the Panthers played in Game 5 despite the 3-0 hole and the loss.
“Yeah, it’s hard,” Maurice said, per Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com. “But I don’t feel deflated. How do I explain this to you? At the start of every series, we talk about what we want our Game 7 to look like. Nothing's changed for us. We didn't get the result that we wanted. We were no good the game before (an 8-1 loss in Game 4). We were pretty darn good here tonight. That's how we're going north.”
The Panthers dominated the first three games of the series with solid defense and timely offense. That defense has disappeared as Florida has allowed 13 goals in these two losses. The Panthers even pulled Vezina Trophy finalist Sergei Bobrovsky after he let five goals past him in Game 4.
It was an uncharacteristic two games for the Panthers and two that could easily mess with the psyche of some of the players. The Oilers will be happy and confident playing at home while the Panthers will love nothing more than to make their flight back home a celebratory one.
Who knows what sort of Panthers team will show up, but for their sake Florida better hope its players wake up. This series going to a Game 7 would be front page news. The Panthers do not want it to get to that point.
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