Panthers know Game 1 performance was not a winning formula

SUNRISE, Fla. — The morning after the curtain opened on the Stanley Cup Final, you might be hard-pressed to guess who pocketed Game 1 based on the tone of those involved.

"I was really impressed," beamed Mattias Ekholm, whose Edmonton Oilers were shut out 3-0 by the Florida Panthers.

"I didn't think we looked out of sorts at all. I thought we took it to them. I thought we had a really good start. They got the first goal, but I really liked the way we started the game, and it kind of blended into the next 40, too."

And then: "You always come in and you have your doubts. But I think our best is good enough. And I think that's something the whole room is feeling, as well."

On the flip side, the victorious Panthers — thanks to a stand-on-his-head show by Sergei Bobrovsky, already as close to a Stanley Cup as they were at any point in the 2023 final — aren't exactly savouring the first championship series lead in franchise history.

In the first two frames of Game 1, they committed a couple of reckless and ill-timed penalties that warmed up the Bugatti that is the Oilers' power play. They handed out breakaways like mini Snickers bars on Halloween. And by run of play, they got caved in by Edmonton like one of Mike Tyson's poor sparing partners in the late '80s.

"Where can you get better?" Florida coach Paul Maurice wondered Sunday as he rewatched a win he should neither apologize for nor frame. "You want to temper all of that when you sit down and watch your video because the other team gets paid, too.

"You lose a game, it’s not the end of the world. You did some good things. You win a game, and you’re not that good. You don’t get that carried away with it. That one’s stuck in the middle."

Maurice's bunch redeemed themselves by delivering a smart and composed final 20 minutes, sucking some zip out of the better but trailing team. They dumped pucks, ran out their patented hard forecheck, and didn't get caught cheating.

"I think it's confidence in our game that we want to build," captain Aleksander Barkov said of cracking the code late. "Obviously, we want to have good first and second periods as well, but we want to keep building every single period. We had our best at the end of the game. There is no real theory to that, but it's all about the hard work and just keep grinding and keep believing, trusting the systems."

Seven of Florida's 13 wins this post-season have been by a single goal.

They're much more likely to grind down their opponent than speed by them, particularly one as formidable as the Western Conference champs.

"We want to dictate, but it's not going to happen every single night. They are a really good team; there is going to be times where they have the puck a lot, where they dictate the game," Barkov said. "We just have to stick with it."

That's Panthers hockey.

Right on brand for a group that prides itself on conditioning and consistency, that grips its leads like grudges, and has now posted a silly-good plus-50 goal differential in the third period over its first 100 games — tops in the league, easy.

"We liked our third period an awful lot. That would be the way we would like to look," Maurice said.

Heading into Monday's Game 2, the Panthers simply want to build on one good period and one helluva good goalie. They realize letting Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl combine for 10 shots is not the route to a parade.

"You become desensitized to how good those two players are — and I understand why," Maurice said. "You see it every night, and they’re so dynamic and so special. But after a while, you get used to it, to the point where you’re saying, ‘Why doesn’t it happen every shift?’ It almost does. They’re truly special players because, in all aspects of the game, you can do all things right and still not stop them."

Yep, the winning coach knows he found himself a win — but not a winning formula.

So, we anticipate tweaks on both sides following the first Oilers-Panthers match since December.

There is pressure on Maurice's crew to create layers and mind their gaps, to check hard but not get gratuitous. And there is an onus on the coach to not fall prey to mismatches as McDavid and Draisaitl jump on and off each's other lines.

Meanwhile, the Oilers sound encouraged, optimistic that with a couple of defensive tweaks and better puck luck (hint: shoot high), they can snatch a split on the road.