The race for the best trophy in sports, Lord Stanley, has entered its final leg. The stage is set for the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers as both fight to raise the cup for the first time in franchise history.
The Florida Panthers Cinderella story began by just sneaking into the playoffs over the Pittsburgh Penguins. They matched up against one of the best teams the NHL has ever seen in the record-breaking 65-win Boston Bruins. The Bruins went up 3-1 in the series and had the lead with 53 seconds left in game five, before letting up a goal and then eventually losing in overtime. The momentum was completely on the side of the underdog Panthers, who came back from a historic deficit against a historic team to win the series in seven.
After Boston, the Panthers matched up against another ‘Original Six’ team, The Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs looked like their old self in the playoffs, not much there. The ‘Core Four’ Matthews, Tavares, Marner, and Nylander were relatively quiet through the series and the Panthers cruised to a game five series win.
This made the story real to people. The outstanding play from goalie Sergie Bobrovsky and the playoff leader in points Matthew Tkachuk have been the backbone of the Panther’s playoff push. Bobrovsky’s .935 save percentage led the Panthers through the Eastern Conference Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Although the Panthers swept the Hurricanes, all four games were close and great games of hockey. The first game went four overtimes and joined the record books for one of the longest games in Stanley Cup Playoff history. Bobrovsky played all 139 minutes of the game, faced 65 shots, and only allowed 2 goals. Tkachuk finally ended the game the day after the puck was dropped and the Hurricanes never climbed back out of that hole. The Panthers have had a long wait to see who their final opponent would be.
The Knights look to become the fastest expansion team to get their names etched into the Cup. Vegas has been led by two of their ‘Original Misfits.’ William Karlsson leads the league in playoff goals with 10, and Jonathan Marchessault is right on his heels at nine.
The Knights started their run against the Winnipeg Jets, dropping the first of game of the playoffs before going four straight and moving on to face the Edmonton Oilers. The best player in the world couldn’t deal with the Knights’s depth as a Marchessault hat trick kicked the Oilers out of the playoffs in game six.
They jumped up 3-0 very quickly in the Western Conference Finals, before the Dallas Stars entered desperation mode. The Stars clawed two games back before finally being eliminated in game six. The Knights’s offense exploded in game six thanks to the support of brick wall goalie Adin Hill who didn’t allow one past on 23 shots.
The stage is set for two teams full of depth and hungry for their franchise’s first taste of glory.
