FORT LAUDERDALE — Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice said kids who grow up playing hockey don't imagine scoring the winning goal in Game 4 early in the playoffs. They all envision scoring the winning goal in Game 7 to win the Stanley Cup.
But Florida's road to Game 7 has been more than a dream. One loss and it would have been a nightmare. A win against the Oilers on Monday night would see the Panthers etch their name on the Stanley Cup. A loss would make them just the second team in history to lose the Stanley Cup after holding a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series.
“I grabbed my 8-year-old son today and I said, 'When I was a little kid, when I was your age, I would put on my rollerblades and pretend I was watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in our driveway,'” Panthers veteran Kyle Okposo said. “I said, 'That's so special that you get to go to the game.'”
“You have to embrace it. You just have to laugh and enjoy it.”
But the Panthers aren't worried about that noise. They're looking at Game 7 as a clean slate.
“We're only thinking about one game tomorrow,” Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said. “We're going to do our best, but that's it. We have a great opportunity to win the Cup, but we're going to do our best from the first shift onwards, and that's it. That's all we can do.”
Maurice has coached in Game 7s four times — twice at Carolina, once at Winnipeg and once last season at Florida. He is 4-0 in those games.
Maurice said he wanted to get a feel for the team's “vibe” at practice on Sunday as the team heads into the fifth Game 7 of his career.
“You just watch how they move with each other,” Maurice says. “What kind of natural conversations start? How many are hockey-specific or mood-specific? And from there, you start to get a feel for what the room is like and where it's going.”
Florida dominated the first three games of the series, but Edmonton has been dominant since then. The Oilers have outshot the Panthers 18-5 in the past three games. The Oilers scored early in the first period to put Florida behind in all three games. Connor McDavid lived up to superstar expectations, scoring three goals and eight points in all three wins.
But Florida has the ability to stop Edmonton, and the Panthers have proven that in their first three games.
“It was a very even series,” Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “We've won three games, they've won three games. For us, both teams have a chance. Most teams lose three games in a playoff series and they don't get a chance to play another one. Somehow, we both have a chance. It's going to be exciting to give it our all.”
Florida has another advantage playing in the Sunrise: Of the last 17 Stanley Cup Final Game 7s, the home team has won 12, while the away team has won the last three.
“It's probably going to be the loudest rink I've ever been in my life,” Tkachuk said. “I expect that. I can't describe the excitement. I can't describe the excitement that's going to be going through the city right now. The excitement has been building throughout this season and throughout the playoffs. So I expect it's going to be louder than any building I've ever heard in my life.”
