The Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers will meet for the first time since last season’s Stanley Cup Final when they face off on Saturday afternoon in Sunrise, Fla.
Vegas won that series in five games to capture the first Stanley Cup title in franchise history. The Golden Knights, behind a hat trick by captain Mark Stone, clinched the series with an emphatic 9-3 victory in Game 5 in Las Vegas on June 13.
Both teams are sputtering heading into Saturday’s contest.
Florida has lost two in a row and four of its past five games, including a 4-1 setback to visiting St. Louis on Thursday. Vegas, in turn, has dropped three of its past four outings — including the first two contests of its four-game road trip. The Knights fell 6-3 at Carolina on Tuesday and 5-4 at Tampa Bay on Thursday.
The Panthers have been outscored 15-2 in the four losses. They managed just one goal in Thursday’s loss to the Blues despite finishing with huge edges in shots on goal (38-24) and faceoffs won (37-16).
“We gave up too many odd-man rushes and couldn’t find a way to put the puck in the net, and that’s what happens,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “When you’re in situations like this it’s important to just stay together, not get frustrated with each other or with the game. Our team game is a defense-first game, and that’s something we have to stick with and that will guide our way out of this.”
Ekblad called the rematch with the Golden Knights before heading into the holiday break an important one for the Panthers.
“Considering our last five (games), it’s an important game, and considering obviously what happened last year, it’s an important game,” Ekblad said. “It’s an important game.”
Vegas, which began the season with a 12-game point streak (11-0-1), enters Saturday’s game tied in points (47) for first place in the Pacific Division with the Vancouver Canucks.
Poor second periods have haunted the Golden Knights in the first two games of the road trip. Vegas was tied 1-1 after the first period at Carolina before surrendering three goals in the second en route to a 6-3 loss.
The Golden Knights held a 2-0 lead after one period at Tampa Bay before yielding four goals in the second. Vegas rallied to forge a 4-4 tie on goals by Jonathan Marchessault and Paul Cotter in the third but Nicholas Paul won it for Tampa Bay after cleaning up a rebound with 1:13 left.
“Just let the second period get away from us,” said center Jack Eichel, who finished with two assists. “Give the guys credit. We battled back in the third to tie it up. It’s tough to swallow knowing you did a lot of good things in the third period, giving yourself a chance to win and obviously they get that goal late. … It’s tough to find positives when you don’t get any points here.”
The second-period malaise was not lost on Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy.
“Obviously we have to address what we need to do better in some of these periods that are getting away from us,” Cassidy said. “It happened in Carolina the other night. It happened tonight. … That’s a concerning thing. To me it’s just a mental thing that our top guys and leaders have to fix in-game.”
–Field Level Media
