SUNRISE, Fla. --The Florida Panthers have escaped trouble before in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They believe they can do it again against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final.
Trailing 2-0 in the best-of-7 series heading into Game 3 at FLA Live Arena on Thursday (8 p.m. ET: TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS), Florida will lean on its experience from rallying from a 3-1 series deficit in the first round against the Boston Bruins.
"Boston is a good example," Panthers center Aleksander Barkov said Wednesday. "We were down. We found a way. We started playing a little better and we found a way to come back and get out of there. So same thing here. We've just got to work a little harder. We've got to work a little smarter in the ways to win games."
The Panthers had no margin for error against the Bruins, who set NHL regular-season records for wins (62) and points (135), and not only battled back to win the series but went on an 11-1 run to reach the Cup Final. After losing the first two games in Vegas, Florida isn't facing elimination, but it does have to make a steep climb to become the sixth team in NHL history to rally from 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final.
The Bruins were the last two do it against the Vancouver Canucks in 2011.
"We've approached every game in the playoffs the same way," Panthers defenseman Marc Staal said. "We try to take it, everyone says, one at a time, but we've got our backs against the wall, obviously. We're down by two, but we're coming home. Love our team, love our resiliency. We're going to go out and give our best effort, play our best game tomorrow and go from there."
To dig out of this hole against the Golden Knights, the Panthers need to get back to the structured defensive game they played in holding the Carolina Hurricanes to six total goals in their four-game sweep in the Eastern Conference Final. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was a big part of that as well but hasn't been as sharp against Vegas.
The Golden Knights outscored the Panthers 12-4 in the first two games and chased Bobrovsky to the bench in the second period of a 7-2 win in Game 2 after he allowed four goals on 13 shots. Vegas has exploited Florida's lapses in defensive coverage on rush plays and made Boborvsky's life difficult with traffic in front, scoring five goals off screens.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice expressed faith in Bobrovsky, saying he will start Game 3, and stressed the importance of playing better defensively.
"I felt that in Game 1 there was offense there," Maurice said. "It was kind of traded offense, both teams. I think we were looking for that, almost to a focus, and it's interesting. Boston, Carolina and Toronto are top-five defensive teams in the NHL, but we got enough offense in those games. The defensive part of our game was lacking, certainly."
To turn the series against the Bruins around, the Panthers focused on what they did well in the first four games and tried to build off that. It began with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 5.
"I think even (though) we were down 3-1, we still had some good moments in the games, and we took good things out of them and tried to do that, tried to repeat that 60 minutes," Barkov said. "And we did that three games straight and beat them three times in three games. So here it's no different. We're going to try to do the things for 60 minutes that we do our best and try to repeat that all game."
The Panthers have thrived under pressure this season, battling back from being nine points out of a playoff spot on Dec. 28 and going 6-1-1 in their final eight games to qualify as the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. After responding to more adversity against the Bruins in the first round, their resilience is being tested again by the Golden Knights.
"I don't think we've ever really wavered for the last long while," Panthers center Eric Staal said. "I think since January on, we knew where we were at and what we needed to do, and I don't think the belief wavered. You can probably ask most guys. They felt like we had a team that could be where we're at right now. It didn't always seem that way from the outside, so that never really changed."
