Panthers confident in ability to bounce back in Stanley Cup Final after Game 1 loss to Oilers

EDMONTON – It takes more than a Game 1 loss to shake the Florida Panthers’ confidence.

Of course, letting a two-goal lead slip away in their 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday wasn’t the ideal way to start the best-of-7 series. The Panthers have been through enough the past three seasons, though, to understand that there’s a lot of series still ahead of them, beginning with Game 2 at Rogers Place on Friday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

“We've got a lot of battle scars on us from the last few years, and we've been through way worse than just yesterday,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said Thursday. “We can be better, we can adjust a few things and come out tomorrow and try to get a win here and get some momentum going back home.”

This is the fifth time since the start of the 2023 playoffs that the Panthers have lost Game 1 of a series. They rebounded to win all but one of those series, including twice after losing the first two games, with the lone exception being their five-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.

That was Florida’s first experience in the Cup Final and it had a host of injuries it could not overcome. Now in their third consecutive Cup Final, including defeating the Oilers in seven games last season, the Panthers are confident they can rebound in Game 2.

“We learn more from adversity than we do from winning,” forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “Every time you lose games or go through series where you’re down 2-0 or losing in the Cup Final a couple of years ago, you learn a lot. It’s just sticking with it and being mentally strong. There are ups and downs in the series and that’s what happens.”

There are some areas of their game the Panthers need to clean up, though. The Oilers had a 15-6 advantage in high-danger shots on goal in Game 1, per NHL EDGE Advanced Stats, and scored three of their four goals on high-danger shots.

Florida had trouble handling Edmonton’s forecheck at times, which led to sustained shifts in the defensive zone. The Oilers outshot the Panthers 14-7 in the first period, 14-2 in the third period and 10-3 after the opening 1:48 of overtime.

“We went through some video and see the things we can do better through the neutral zone,” defenseman Seth Jones said. “Maybe a little bit more offensive zone time, some things we look at, but they played a good game. They were solid defensively. They blocked a lot of shots. And we kind of knew that coming in there's not a lot of space out there, not a lot of plays to be made, really.”

The Panthers were at their best in the second period when their forecheck helped them control play and they outshot the Oilers 17-8. Florida had a 3-1 lead after Sam Bennett scored his second goal of the game 2:00 into the second period, but Edmonton pulled back within 3-2 on Viktor Arvidsson’s goal 1:17 later, leaving it within striking distance heading into the third.

Connor McDavid set up Mattias Ekholm’s tying goal 6:33 into the third period and the Oilers completed their comeback with Leon Draisaitl’s power-play goal 19:29 into overtime. It was the first time the Panthers failed to win after leading entering the third period in the past three postseasons (1-29).

“They definitely finished better than we did in the game and probably earned that win,” Tkachuk said. “They dictated more of the game than we did. It is what it is. Back to the drawing board. Just try to play better than them tomorrow.”

Florida only needs to look back as far as the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs this season for reasons to believe it can respond. The Panthers lost the first two games of that series and trailed 3-1 in Game 3 before rallying to win that series in seven games.

“You’re going to have moments in the game and moments in a series that you’re going to be riding a rollercoaster,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “You find yourself in an OT game in Game 1 on the road and give yourself a chance to win, these things are going to happen as the playoffs go on. And this team, I think, has an incredible ability to be able to not only learn from what they’ve done and apply their experience into situations like this.”

The Panthers also take confidence from playing well on the road throughout the playoffs, as evidenced by their 8-3 road record. They had won five straight road games before Game 1.

If they can win in Game 2 here, the complexion of the series instantly changes with the next two games taking place in Florida.

“Take one game and get home ice back. It's that easy,” Tkachuk said. “We would have liked for it to be yesterday, but it is what it is. We feel comfortable on the road. It's a simple game. It's a hard game. It's an adversity type of game, an adversity type of atmosphere. We’ve said it a bunch. It's that us against the world mindset, but you really feel it especially being down in a series.

“Your back's not necessarily against the wall, but you treat it as a big-time must win in a hostile environment, and I feel like that's when we're at our best.”