The Florida Panthers took a 3-0 stranglehold on the series against Carolina on Saturday after a monstrous third-period performance broke the game wide open. The depth of the Panthers’ squad was on full display as they dominated the final twenty minutes, even when down several players. The game was tight for the first forty minutes, closer to what I assumed the games would look like. Once the game was out of hand for Carolina, the scrums escalated as the Cats chose to wait to retaliate for things that happened in previous games that they didn’t like.
Depth Squad:
After three games, the Cats now have ten players who have 10+ points in the playoffs, all seven defensemen have scored, and a playoff-leading 15 goals from their blueliners. Niko Mikkola broke the ice first off a pass intended for Barkov that ended up bouncing off Orlav’s skate and past Kotchetkov. He then extended the Panthers’ lead in the third period by jumping up in the rush and firing a shot that hit the inside of the post and bounced in, making it a 3-1 game at that point. His performance earned him first-star honors. Forsling had a breakout playoff run last season, now it’s Mikkola’s turn. Barkov also had two goals and an assist for a three-point night and second-star honors. He scored just 29 seconds after Mikkola’s second goal. He got the pass from Tkachuk, who had forced a turnover and then took the wrist shot to score, and made the game 4-1. On his second goal, he intercepted a pass headed up the ice from Carolina and then outskated the defense. His shot hit the stick of a Canes defender, and it got tipped in. Brad Marchand capped off the scoring, finishing a 2-on-1 chance for the final 6-2 score.
Next Man Up:
With Reinhart out of commission, Jesper Boqvist drew back in and was put back on the top line with Barkov and Rodrigues. HC Paul Maurice has stressed this season that every player in the room is important and that it’s good for the scratched players to see how important they are when they’re called upon to fill in when someone is out. Jesper scored a pivotal goal in the third period to put Florida up 2-1 and opened the floodgates of goals over the next nine minutes. After Ekblad forced a turnover in the neutral zone and Rodrigues got the puck to Boqvist, Jesper turned up the speed to outskate the defense. He shot the puck 5-hole to score, marking his second goal of the playoffs and back-to-back games where he’s scored after being scratched. He also had an assist on Barkov’s second goal and earned third-star honors. The Panthers lost more players during the game as Luostarinen was given a game misconduct in the first period for boarding, Mikkola went into the endboards hard in the third and left, and Greer also got injured during the third period; HC Paul Maurice said on Sunday that they expect both players to be good to go for Game 4. The Cats lost two more players to misconducts as both Tkachuk and Bennett were thrown out. The depleted bench meant more players had to step up and fill in. The next man up mentality of the team served them well as they didn’t allow Carolina to score another goal. You likely wouldn’t think that Florida was missing players except for how thin the bench was. Nosek especially stepped up big as he got 14 minutes of ice time and was needed on the PK. It was another great team performance from the Panthers.
A Cat Never Forgets:
For the third straight series, Matthew Tkachuk has called out an opponent on the benches and warned that the Panthers are coming after them. Florida may not retaliate immediately be warned that they will eventually. There were Panthers still going after Gostisbehere for shooting a puck at Marchand, Tkachuk hounded Aho for his hit on Reinhart in Game 2, and Sam Bennett dropped gloves with Svechnikov. Tkachuk was given a misconduct for his roughing against Aho, and likely that’ll be the end of it unless something else happens. The team got their pound of flesh for the Reinhart hit. Whether or not Marchand stops targeting Gostisbehere is up for debate, as he clearly cross-checked him in Game 3. Potentially, he’s more mad about Gostisbehere not dropping gloves with him than the actual shooting of the puck, but that’s speculation on my part. The decision of when and where to give payback in this series has actually shown maturity on the team’s part; they’re more concerned with getting the job done than immediately jumping someone for committing a hit they don’t like. Florida’s focused on repeating as Stanley Cup Champions, but don’t mistake that focus for complacency; they’ll always remember hits and plays they don’t like and will return the favor when the time is right.
ITR 45: Everything Is Happening – Inside The Rink
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