✨🔩2024 Stanley Cup Finals: Edmonton vs Florida: Panthers Stanley Cup Champions 🔩✨ (FLA Wins 4-3)

[NHL HHOF]

And no, Craig MacTavish, Kevin Lowe, and Charlie Huddy are not currently working for the Edmonton Oilers in any way.

[FD19372]

Bob needs to let his d men take care of the puck a little more, instead of him lol...almost gift wrapped one with a bow on it, for McDavid. 

[Brewin Flames]

Sergei Bobrovsky leads Florida Panthers to Game 1 victory

 

SUNRISE, Fla. -- For the first time in franchise history, the Florida Panthers have a lead in the Stanley Cup Final. They have Sergei Bobrovsky to thank for it.

 

The Panthers goaltender shut out Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 on Saturday night, 3-0. He took on the Oilers' explosive scoring talent -- and their dominant power play -- and stopped all 32 shots he faced, as jubilant Panthers fans chanted "Bobby!" in his honor.

 

"It's fun to play against those guys, those elite guys," Bobrovsky said. "They are a great offensive team. They bring a good challenge."

 

There had been 15 previous shutouts in Game 1 of the Cup Final, the last one coming in 2011 by Vancouver Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo, who is now a member of the Panthers' front office. Bobrovsky is the oldest goalie (35 years, 252 days) to record a shutout in Game 1 of a Cup Final.

 

The Oilers outshot the Panthers 32-18, including a 12-4 advantage in the first period. For the majority of the 2024 postseason, Bobrovsky hasn't faced the same kind of shot volume that he did in Florida's run to the finals last season. That wasn't the case in Game 1 as the Oilers had 32 shots on 70 shot attempts. He handled the increased shot volume perfectly.

 

"He's just been unreal. His preparation is incredible. He's everything that you want in a teammate and especially a goalie," forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "He was there for us tonight."

 

Florida built its lead in each period. The Panthers took a 1-0 lead on Carter Verhaeghe's 10th goal of the postseason at 3:59 of the first period, converting an Aleksander Barkov pass to send the home fans into an early frenzy.

 

"He's an unusual performer, that man," coach Paul Maurice said of Verhaeghe. "He can raise that level of play. I don't know that I have much to say about it. I don't know that I fully understand it. That guy's a gamer."

 

Florida made it 2-0 on an Evan Rodrigues goal on a great feed from center Sam Bennett at 2:16 of the second. Then Eetu Luostarinen iced it with an empty-netter in the third period.

 

Bobrovsky had a series' worth of highlight-reel saves in Game 1. He stopped breakaway chances from Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the latter on a tremendous pad save. He was there for a McDavid deflection from a Leon Draisaitl pass in the third.

 

"He's amazing down low and he's also amazing up high. It's hard to beat him. He's an incredible goalie. He does a great job sealing the ice," Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner said. "You've just got to somehow find a way to score a goal on him. We've been playing some top-end goaltenders and it's never easy to beat these guys."

 

The Oilers had an 18-6 advantage in high-danger shot attempts in Game 1. Bobrovsky was poised to handle all of them and handed Edmonton its first shutout of the playoffs.

 

"Maybe it was the hockey gods getting us back for that Game 6 [against Dallas] where we probably didn't deserve to win," McDavid said, referencing the game in which the Oilers were outshot 34-10 but eliminated the Stars for the Western Conference title. "Tonight, maybe we deserved at least one goal, maybe two, and we don't find a way to get them."

 

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said there was a lot to like about his team's game, but that Edmonton needs to find another level for Game 2.

 

"We know that we're going to have to get even better," he said. "We know that probably wasn't Florida's best game. We expect them to be much better. I think they [were] probably caught off guard with you guys talking about how good they were and we didn't have a chance in this series."

 

The most impactful part of Bobrovsky's Game 1 masterpiece was on the Panthers' penalty kill. This special teams showdown was expected to be the most critical matchup of the finals: Edmonton's all-world power play, converting over 37% of its opportunities, against Florida's penalty kill, second in the playoffs at 88.2% and coming off a conference finals in which it thwarted 14 of 15 New York Rangers power plays.

Bobrovsky made six saves as the backbone of the Panthers' kill in Game 1.

 

"There's nights where you will say that the driver of [the penalty kill] is the players, but tonight the driver of it was Sergei," Maurice said. "With those elite shooters, you're not getting through that penalty kill without your goaltender at some point."

 

Game 2 is Monday night. Teams that win Game 1 of the finals have gone on to win the series 76% of the time. Each of the past three Cup winners won Game 1.

 

It was a big victory for the Panthers on Saturday night, thanks to their star goaltender.

 

"Every win is a big win," Bobrovsky said. "But it's a long series. So, we're going to reset, refocus and get ready for the next fight."

[Brewin Flames]

 

[flyercanuck]

Wow! Oilers dominated Florida, but Bob dominated the Oilers. 

[GratefulFlyers]

9 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

Wow! Oilers dominated Florida, but Bob dominated the Oilers. 

For sure that was the story of G1  … the Oilers can’t feel too bad just one of those nights offensively. Defensively I guess they can be a little better though.
 

But if Bobrovsky keeps playing like that it won’t matter what they do. That was one for the books. 

[JR Ewing]

The oilers should runs it back, except that if coach Knoblauch pairs Nurse and Ceci then he's not nearly smart as I've given him credit for. 

 

Just watch what every team does against that pairing:

-dump the puck into Ceci's corner.

-Ceci too slow to retrieve. 

-Nurse slides to net-front, takes nobody has stick in the air and can't block passes.

-Nurse (-14) is closing in on Paul Rangheim's record for worst single playoff plus/minus. -15

 

[yave1964]

35 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

The oilers should runs it back, except that if coach Knoblauch pairs Nurse and Ceci then he's not nearly smart as I've given him credit for. 

 

Just watch what every team does against that pairing:

-dump the puck into Ceci's corner.

-Ceci too slow to retrieve. 

-Nurse slides to net-front, takes nobody has stick in the air and can't block passes.

-Nurse (-14) is closing in on Paul Rangheim's record for worst single playoff plus/minus. -15

 

Knoblauch has pulled all the strings in the right way, sitting skinner and playing pickard, putting perry and others in and out with it usually working brilliantly. Great postseason coaching.

  IDK man, Florida is so damn tough, Bennet is the heart, Florida is simply stacked. Mcdavid and draisatl simply must play as the two best players on the ice or it is a quick series. No coaching can change that.

[flyercanuck]

1 hour ago, yave1964 said:

Knoblauch has pulled all the strings in the right way, sitting skinner and playing pickard, putting perry and others in and out with it usually working brilliantly. Great postseason coaching.

  IDK man, Florida is so damn tough, Bennet is the heart, Florida is simply stacked. Mcdavid and draisatl simply must play as the two best players on the ice or it is a quick series. No coaching can change that.

 

It looked to me like Edmonton deserved the win, but Bob stole it from them.

[JR Ewing]

2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Knoblauch has pulled all the strings in the right way, sitting skinner and playing pickard, putting perry and others in and out with it usually working brilliantly. Great postseason coaching.

 

He's been very good, but he had no business putting that pairing back together.

[Podein25]

1 hour ago, flyercanuck said:

 

It looked to me like Edmonton deserved the win, but Bob stole it from them.

 

This is bad news for the Oilers. Florida looked rusty, low energy. Expect that to change.

[JR Ewing]

2 hours ago, Podein25 said:

 

This is bad news for the Oilers. Florida looked rusty, low energy. Expect that to change.

They're also playing a much better offense than they've encountered in the playoffs so far. 

[Brewin Flames]

Perhaps it's just me....

 

But so far the Panthers have went through Vasy, Swayman, Igor.....

 

Somehow Stuart Skinner does not worry me at all.

[Brewin Flames]

6 hours ago, JR Ewing said:

The oilers should runs it back, except that if coach Knoblauch pairs Nurse and Ceci then he's not nearly smart as I've given him credit for. 

 

Just watch what every team does against that pairing:

-dump the puck into Ceci's corner.

-Ceci too slow to retrieve. 

-Nurse slides to net-front, takes nobody has stick in the air and can't block passes.

-Nurse (-14) is closing in on Paul Rangheim's record for worst single playoff plus/minus. -15

 

 

 

 

Stock Watch

Panthers penalty kill (Up): OK, technically this is also Bobrovsky because he was the star of Florida’s penalty kill. But full marks to the Panthers for going 3-for-3 against the Oilers' power play, however they managed it.

 

Darnell Nurse-Cody Ceci pairing (Down): The defensemen hadn’t been paired together since the Western Conference Second Round but were reunited for Game 1. It didn’t work out well, as the two were on the ice for the first two Panthers goals.

 

Oilers scoring chances (Up): Seriously, they were all over the puck, they had opportunities galore, and you were just waiting for them to capitalize on one or two of those juicy chances. It just didn’t happen because, yes, No. 72 for the Panthers.

 

Stuart Skinner (down): It’s only one game and the Oilers goaltender was stellar through the Western Conference Final, but he wasn’t tested much in Game 1 against the Panthers, allowing two goals on 17 shots.

[Podein25]

20 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

They're also playing a much better offense than they've encountered in the playoffs so far. 

 

That's true, I expect Maurice to make adjustments to deal with that. They mainly have to stay out of the penalty box. I like their chances 5 on 5.

[JR Ewing]

1 hour ago, Podein25 said:

 

That's true, I expect Maurice to make adjustments to deal with that. They mainly have to stay out of the penalty box. I like their chances 5 on 5.

 

Yeah, I think he will. I always thought he was good coach.

[NHL HHOF]

PAST STANLEY CUP WINNERS PLAYING IN THE 2024 STANLEY CUP FINAL - FLORIDA PANTHERS VS. EDMONTON OILERS

 

1. 2007 - Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks)

2. 2019 - Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues)

3. 2020 - Carter Verhaeghe (Tampa Bay Lightning)

[NHL HHOF]

 

[GratefulFlyers]

Ceci out tonight Desharnais in. 

 

https://www.nhl.com/news/vincent-desharnais-to-play-for-edmonton-in-game-2

[FD19372]

Oilers win 5-4 tonight. Hyman gets a couple of goals, including the game-winner.

[FD19372]

Great PK by the Panthers. They didn't even give up a shot to the Oilers.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

And now Edmonton really stuck their foot in it...or rather...their knee in it.

5 min major PP for Florida.

[JR Ewing]

That might be Warren Foegele's lat shift as an Edmonton Oiler.

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Florida having trouble getting set up in the zone.

For all the talk some people do about Edmonton's ability to defend, the Oilers have shown themselves to be very good on the PK.
Their positioning seems solid, they are quick to attack puck carriers, and know when to use sticks, and when to take the body.

Also, rushing the Florida PP unit is helping the Oilers' cause tremendously.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

And as good as Bobrovsky has been, he was a MAJOR piece of Swiss Cheese just then...
1-0 Oil.