The match was so over until it wasn’t. After a scoreless first period, the next two periods had three goals each. The Cardiac Cats were out in full force as they spent much of the game trailing by one goal until the defense came back in full force offensively to give the Panthers the lead late in the third period. The goaltending has been outstanding for both teams, with Bobrovsky and Vasilevskiy making it difficult for the opponent to score. Florida wasn’t as disciplined as it needed to be against Tampa, as Ekblad and Mikkola made bad hits, though only Mikkola was called for a penalty. The Cats could be down two defensemen next game, as it wouldn’t be surprising if both Ekblad and Mikkola were suspended based on the decisions made so far this series; it’s a very likely outcome. But for Monday night, the Panthers walk away with a 4-2 win and a 3-1 stranglehold on the series.
Outstanding Net Minders:
The goalie duel continues between Bobrovsky and Vasilevskiy. The stats won’t show it for Vasilevskiy because of the final minutes of the match, but he was rock solid for 55 minutes of the game and made scoring extremely difficult for the Panthers. Bob made some outstanding saves at his end of the ice. Apart from a rough 11-second sequence in the middle period, Bob was locked in the whole game. Once again, the penalty killing was huge for the Cats, and Bob was the best penalty killer on the ice. The PK needed a big performance from the Panthers as they had a 5-minute major to kill off to start the third period. The PK once again was perfect and didn’t allow Tampa to execute on one of the skills they’re best at. There also wasn’t a heart-stopping moment like Game 3, where Bob went to play a puck and missed, and it nearly went into his net. The goalies are going to continue to be a big part of this series as neither gives up much. Both are Vezina winners and Stanley Cup Champions, the battle going to be won by who gives up the least amount of fluke goals or which defense does a better job of supporting their net minder.
Burned By 11 Seconds:
Ekblad made a stupid hit decision in the second period that resulted in Hagel exiting the game and not returning. No penalty was called despite the fact that there should’ve been one. HC Jon Cooper was visibly pissed off on the Lightning bench over the lack of call and his team responded in kind. Lundell off a fantastic feed from Marchand, got the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the second period prior to the Ekblad hit. Lundell had a 2-point night and became the 6th Panther to score 30 points in the postseason. Then Tampa scored two goals in 11 seconds to take a 1-2 lead that they’d hold for the rest of the period and most of the third period. The first Lightning goal went to Chaffee. Bob made the save on the Lilleberg shot and thought he had it, but he didn’t. Chaffee picked up the rebound, and Bobrovsky didn’t see it till a moment too late, and then the game was tied 1-1. A failed clear from the Panthers led to the Cernak goal with a Tampa Bay screen in front of Bob; he didn’t get a clean look at the puck, and just like that, it was a 1-2 lead for the Lightning.
3 Goals 2 Minutes:
The Panthers were looking like they were down and out by the middle of the third period. The disallowed Ekblad goal on the power play was rather disheartening, and it didn’t feel like Florida was going to get another one to tie the game. It would be Ekblad who stepped up again and scored for the Cats, but this time it counted to tie the game. Ekblad held the puck in and left it for Reinhart near the blue line. Reinhart then took that shot that got saved, but Ekblad had gotten lost and drifted into the slot, allowing him to pick up the rebound and score for the 2-2 tie. Kulikov shot the puck into the zone to start the cycle, but it carried around to the other side where Jones picked it up after Lundell slowed it down near the blue line. Jones’ shot deflected off a Tampa Bay player and slipped through under the arm of Vasilevskiy. With their own 11-second two-goal sequence, the Panthers had the lead with roughly 3:20 left to play. Verhaeghe scored the empty net goal with 1:40 on the clock, and the Cats ran the clock out from there. It was a gutsy effort from Florida in the final minutes to get the 3-1 series lead and the possibility of sending Tampa packing for the second straight year in the first round. When asked about his game-winner in his post-game interview, Jones said, “Just a knuckler that came up to me and I just had to put it to the net. Vasy played well, so anything we can put to the net, we talked about pregame, we’re going to do that with bodies and traffic.” Marchand, who had a two-point night, had a great quote in his post-game interview: “Belief is a dangerous thing, and we had that.” Brad also had praise for the fans, “I don’t think we were coming back if it wasn’t for you guys.”
It’ll be worth keeping an eye out for any potential disciplinary action from the DoPS before Game 5 to see if anything is done on the Ekblad or Mikkola hits. Mikkola was correctly assed a 5 minute major and a game misconduct in third period.
ITR 35: Round One – Inside The Rink
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