Sunrise, Fla. — Paul Maurice was in a much better mood Wednesday.
The Florida Panthers coach admitted the previous day that he was “grumpy” after Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, despite a dominant victory over the Edmonton Oilers that gave his team a 2-0 series lead.
That was mostly because of the unknown status of Aleksander Barkov, Florida’s captain who was knocked out of the game midway through the third period after Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl hit him in the head.
Barkov, who is tied with Matthew Tkachuk with a team-leading 19 points in the postseason, practiced with the team Wednesday morning ahead of Florida’s trip to Edmonton for Game 3.
“It’s the drive of my mood, right?” Maurice said. “You go through that fear. … Nobody wants to lose their captain. And you don’t know if you have or not for a block of time, and then you find out there’s a good chance you’re not going to (lose him), and you’re in a much better mood.”
Maurice said the team will make a final decision about Barkov’s Game 3 status before Thursday night’s game, but the star “felt better.”
Barkov, who won the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward, is a big reason for Florida’s lockdown defense, winning 57.3% of his faceoffs in the regular season and 53.4% in the postseason.
“He’s a huge part of our team and a huge piece of our game,” said veteran Kyle Okposo.
Barkov had a pair of assists in the final opener but hasn’t scored a goal yet in the series. Neither has Tkachuk, Florida’s top-scoring forward who has five goals and 14 assists in the playoffs.
Tkachuk being without a point hasn’t been a problem for the Panthers, whose depth has emerged as one of their biggest assets. Center Evan Rodrigues leads the series with three goals; young center Anton Lundell is emerging as a formidable two-way player and Niko Mikkola had the tying goal in Game 2 as the Panthers rallied.
“Nobody gets here on their stars,” Maurice said. “They drive the bus – we would all agree with that. They’re the key pieces. But I don’t think any team gets to this point without the 20 guys you’re dressing. At some point, they have to be the difference.”
Mikkola, the 6-foot-5 defenseman who signed with the Panthers around the same time Rodrigues did last July, scored his second career playoff goal when he blasted a drop pass from Lundell past goalie Stuart Skinner moments after he nearly scored an own goal on the other end.
The 30-year-old Rodrigues, who had played in just 16 postseason games before this season, scored twice in Florida’s comeback victory, including the winning goal early in the third period.
Rodrigues has 11 points (six goals, five assists) so far in the playoffs. He’s played up and down the Panthers’ lineup all year and moved up to the top line with Barkov and Sam Reinhart in Game 2, helping spark a three-goal onslaught in the third.
He has more points than Edmonton’s Connor McDavid – the leading scorer in the postseason with 32 points – and the Oilers’ other two stars, Draisaitl and Zach Hyman, combined.
“It’s nice to contribute to a win,” Rodrigues said, “and that’s what we’re here to do. It could be any player on any given day.”
Okposo said he believes those contributions are a product of the way the Panthers play with a stifling defense that sets them up offensively.
“It doesn’t really matter which line is getting those opportunities,” he said. “It’s just kind of the nature of our game and what we do. So when you see a guy like Evan, scoring a couple goals last game, it’s just phenomenal for everybody. Everybody’s extremely happy for anybody else that scores. Obviously this time of year, that’s how it’s going to be.”
Maurice added that it has been needed in a series like this one, where both teams’ top two lines are so good that they almost “cancel each other out.”
“Over all the minutes you play, your elite players have to be great all the time,” he said. “But there’s going to be a block of time for each player on your roster, and he will be the difference in that block of time for whether you win or lose. And in a couple games in these playoffs, it’s been Evan’s time, and he’s made the most of it.”
The Oilers, who have just one goal – a fluky one – through two games, hope they will be able to fix the power play that has gone 0 for 7 and get things going offensively.
“They’re doing a great job of making it tough on us,” McDavid said. “But with that being said, the power play has been together for a long time and we’ve been great at what we do. We usually solve penalty kills, and I would expect us to figure this one out, too.”
Oilers goalie Skinner has done his job
The play of goaltender Stuart Skinner was the biggest question for the Edmonton Oilers going into the Stanley Cup Final.
Through two games, Skinner has done his job and is not the reason his team trails the series 2-0. The onus is on his teammates to get the job done at the other end of the rink against Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers in Game 3 on Thursday night as the series shifts to Alberta.
“He’s been great,” captain Connor McDavid said Wednesday. “He’s given us a chance both nights, and that’s all you can ask of your goalie.”
Skinner has stopped 40 of the 45 shots he has faced, and the goals he has allowed have largely come off turnovers and mistakes made by defenders in front of him. In the locker room following practice in Edmonton, the 25-year-old hometown boy was as relaxed as he has been at any point in the final.
“Anything that comes his way, any adversity rolls off his back pretty easily. He handles it really well,” coach Kris Knoblauch said. “(Like) our team, just putting the past behind us and thinking about our next shift or our next game or next play, I think Stu’s done a really good job with that.”
Skinner has not heard the praise showered on him by Wayne Gretzky during an intermission appearance on the Oilers radio broadcast during Game 2. That is intentional.
“In the situation that I’m in right now, I’m not putting on the TV,” Skinner said. “Just Mario Kart.”
Skinner has used meditation and reading books to get away from hockey, and experience has allowed him to handle booing and criticism better than earlier in his career. That lets him just do his job in net.
“Once the puck drops and you start playing hockey, it’s the same game I’ve been playing for years and years and years,” Skinner said.
One thing Skinner cannot do is score goals, and Edmonton has just one through two games. Getting the power play going after an 0 for 7 start to the series is one thing, but after just one high-danger chance in Game 2, the Oilers are specifically focused on generating opportunities and scoring at even strength on Bobrovsky.
“We’ve got to get more volume there,” said Mattias Ekholm, who has Edmonton’s only goal in the final. “Especially for us D-men, it’s maybe not so much about my shot from the blue line. It’s more about maybe that second opportunity, having guys around the net and go from there. I know offense hasn’t been a problem since I got here with this group, so I’m not too worried about it.”
Late Panthers departure
Opting to spend an extra night in their own beds and skate at their practice facility in Fort Lauderdale before flying, the Panthers were delayed by storms in South Florida.
Their flight scheduled to take off at 1 p.m., didn’t get off the ground until nearly 430, putting them on track to land at Edmonton International Airport after 8 local time.
“We didn’t like the idea of getting them up (Tuesday) early enough to get in at a reasonable time in Edmonton,” coach Paul Maurice said. “We did not see a value in it.”
Nurse good to go
The Oilers played much of Game 2 without defenseman Darnell Nurse, who was injured on a hit midway through the first period by Evan Rodrigues. Nurse skated just one shift in the second and two in the third, then didn’t practice Wednesday.
Despite that, and based on the defense pairings in practice, the team is planning to have Nurse available for Game 3.
“Darnell, we haven’t considered much of not having him for our next game,” Knoblauch said. “With medical treatment he got, he was able to play a little bit at the end of the game. With the time off and everything we need to do, I have no issues he’ll be ready to play.”
Knoblauch also expects veteran winger Corey Perry back in after being a healthy scratch on Monday night. It’s possible he replaces Evander Kane, who has been playing through a sports hernia and has just one point in nine games.
Northern Michigan’s Potulny steps down
Northern Michigan hockey coach Grant Potulny is stepping down to pursue a position at the professional hockey level and athletic director Rick Comley will be taking over as interim head coach.
Associate head coach Byron Pool and assistant coach Nick Peruzzi have also moved on to accept coaching positions elsewhere.
Potulny led the Wildcats to a 12-16-6 overall and 10-10-4 conference record this past season and brought the Wildcats to two conference championship games (2020-21 WCHA, 2022-23 CCHA) in the past four seasons.
Serving as head coach since the 2017-18 season, he began his career at NMU with back-to-back 20-plus win seasons. He finished with four 20-plus win seasons and concluded his career at Northern Michigan with a 128-113-17 overall and 95-69-11 conference mark.
Comley brought NCAA Div. 1 championships to both NMU (1991) and Michigan State (2007). He previously served Northern as athletic director for 13 years (1987-2000).
Capitals buy CapFriendly site
The Washington Capitals reached a deal to buy CapFriendly, a popular site that has long been a source of NHL salary information and will soon no longer be available to other teams or fans.
General manager Brian MacLellan confirmed the agreement in a statement Wednesday. The site will continue to operate independently through the draft in late June and start of free agency before the transaction is completed in the middle of the summer.
Assistant GM Don Fishman has been an expert in managing the salary cap for several years, helping Washington win the Stanley Cup in 2018 and reach the playoffs 15 times in the past 17 seasons. The Capitals believe this will give them an even bigger boost in navigating the finances of the game.
“This strategic move will provide the Capitals organization with the ability to digest, present and analyze both our internal and league-supplied data,” MacLellan said. “We anticipate that this acquisition will significantly enhance and integrate the various branches of our hockey operations department, allowing us to strengthen our management, scouting, analytics and player development, in addition to augmenting our salary cap and contractual applications.”
The Capitals were not the only team in conversations with CapFriendly, which started in 2015 as a successor to CapGeek. A message sent to CapFriendly seeking comment on the sale was not immediately returned.
MacLellan said the team is bringing in CapFriendly’s Jamie, Ryan and Christopher Davis once the agreement is finalized, saying the Capitals “are excited to add the CapFriendly platform and the team’s related deep industry knowledge to the Capitals front office.” Buying the existing information rather than starting from scratch gives the organization a head start while the league’s other 31 teams must now adjust to Washington’s competitive advantage.
News of the sale and CapFriendly shuttering as a public entity emerged over the weekend and became a topic of conversation around the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.
Hart Levine, the founder of PuckPedia, another site with NHL salary data and more, congratulated members of CapFriendly for getting rewarded for their work and hopes fans check out some of the tools he has made available, such as one that calculates the value of draft picks in trades and another about cap relief teams can get.
“We were already working on some exciting development, but this obviously will expedite and speed that work up,” Levine told The Associated Press. “We’ve been getting very useful feedback, which we’re taking to move quickly and be responsive to people’s suggestions. It’s an opportunity for us to learn, build and adapt and hopefully become a trusted and important hockey destination.”
NHL final
(Florida vs. Edmonton)
(Florida leads 2-0)
▶ Game 1: Florida 3-0
▶ Game 2: Florida 4-1
▶ Game 3: Thursday, June 13 at Edmonton, 8 p.m.
▶ Game 4: Saturday, June 15 at Edmonton, 8 p.m.
▶ Game 5: Tuesday, June 18 at Florida, 8 p.m.
▶ Game 6: Friday, June 21 at Edmonton, 8 p.m.
▶ Game 7: Monday, June 24 at Florida, 8 p.m.
Eastern Conference
Third round
Florida vs. N.Y. Rangers
(Panthers win 4-2)
▶ Game 1: Florida 3-0
▶ Game 2: New York 2-1 (OT)
▶ Game 3: New York 5-4 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Florida 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Florida 3-2
▶ Game 6: Florida 2-0
Western Conference
Third round
Edmonton vs. Dallas
(Oilers win 4-2)
▶ Game 1: Edmonton 3-2 (2OT)
▶ Game 2: Dallas 3-1
▶ Game 3: Dallas 5-3
▶ Game 4: Edmonton 5-2
▶ Game 5: Edmonton 3-1
▶ Game 6: Edmonton 2-1
Second round
Eastern Conference
Carolina vs. N.Y. Rangers
(Rangers win 4-2)
▶ Game 1: Rangers 4-3
▶ Game 2: Rangers 4-3 (2OT)
▶ Game 3: Rangers 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Hurricanes 4-3
▶ Game 5: Hurricanes 4-1
▶ Game 6: Rangers 5-3
Boston vs. Florida
(Panthers win 4-2)
▶ Game 1: Boston 5-1
▶ Game 2: Florida 6-1
▶ Game 3: Florida 6-2
▶ Game 4: Florida 3-2
▶ Game 5: Boston 2-1
▶ Game 6: Florida 2-1
Western Conference
Colorado vs. Dallas
(Stars win 4-2)
▶ Game 1: Avalanche 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 2: Stars 5-3
▶ Game 3: Stars 4-1
▶ Game 4: Stars 5-1
▶ Game 5: Avalanche 5-3
▶ Game 6: Stars 2-1 (2OT)
Edmonton vs. Vancouver
(Oilers win 4-3)
▶ Game 1: Canucks 5-4
▶ Game 2: Oilers 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 3: Canucks 4-3
▶ Game 4: Oilers 3-2
▶ Game 5: Canucks 3-2
▶ Game 6: Oilers 5-1
▶ Game 7: Oilers 3-2
