LAS VEGAS -- The end of the Florida Panthers' Stanley Cup dream wasn't pretty.
So, there were, understandably, some tears, along with the emotional and physical pain, for the Panthers following their season-ending 9-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
But there was also a determination among the Panthers to learn from this and be back.
"There's no stopping now. There's no stopping here," defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. "So, a bump in the road and it's going to sting. It stings now, but we'll find a way to come back next year and be stronger because of it. How could you not going through what we went through this year?"
The Panthers overcame long odds and a slew of injuries before they were overwhelmed by a deeper, more talented team in the Golden Knights. The attrition took an ugly toll Tuesday with leading scorer Matthew Tkachuk unable to play through a painful fracture near his sternum and several other players playing through pain.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, Florida had some hope after Ekblad's right point shot floated in past goalie Adin Hill to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 2:15 of the second. But the Golden Knights overwhelmed the Panthers in the second half of the period, scoring four goals in the final 9:32 to increase their lead to 6-1.
Florida didn't give up in the third period, but it was mostly an extended celebration for Vegas.
"It's definitely a tough way to lose that way and to end the season that way, but we have done a fantastic job and I want to stick to that," Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said. "Last year, we won only one round of playoffs. This year, we won three rounds. So, we're building, we're getting there and we're excited."
Before the Panthers defeated the Washington Capitals in the first round last season, they hadn't won a series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since they reached the 1996 Cup Final. They took some lessons from being swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round last season, but nothing like they learned this postseason.
After needing until the final week of the regular season to qualify for the playoffs as the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, Florida (42-32-8, 92 points) battled back from a 3-1 deficit in the first round against the Boston Bruins, who set NHL records with 65 wins and 135 points, to win that series in seven games. The Panthers went on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs (tied for fourth in the NHL with 111 points) in five games in the second round and the Carolina Hurricanes (second in the NHL with 113 points) in four games in the Eastern Conference Final before running into a buzzsaw in the Golden Knights, who finished first in the Western Conference with 111 points.
"I don't know how many people in the hockey world expected us [to be] or thought we were going to be in this position," Florida defenseman Brandon Montour said. "So, we've got a talented group. We've known since the start of this season, obviously, this organization has grown dramatically over the last couple years, and I think the hockey world knows now that we're for real, and it's obviously tough right now, but we'll be back."
Afterward coach Paul Maurice went through a portion of the Panthers' long list of injured players, which included Tkachuk, Ekblad (broken foot, shoulder, oblique), defenseman Radko Gudas (high ankle sprain) forward Sam Reinhart (undisclosed), Montour (undisclosed), and surmised they, "ran out of health luck."
That proved important against the Golden Knights' seemingly endless depth.
"It's not an excuse because we don't need one," Maurice said. "These guys earned the right. They gave everything they had."
Still, along with the heartache and pain came something invaluable Maurice believes will serve them well in the future.
"You never, ever have to explain the hard again," Maurice said. "You never have to convince them of something, of how hard this is, how hard you have to play or that you're not out of it down 3-1 to Boston. You're never out of a game. You're never out of it. But it's incredibly hard. So, we'll get a short summer, but when they train, they'll understand. When they get pushed in training camp next year, they'll understand."
The Panthers, like all teams, will go through some personnel changes this offseason, but the bulk of their core is signed through at least next season. Of their players who played Tuesday, only Gudas, Marc Staal, Eric Staal and backup goalie Alex Lyon can become unrestricted free agents July 1.
But Maurice said some players will require surgery that will cause them to miss the start of next season and acknowledged, "We're going to have a [heck] of a time making the playoffs next year."
If the Panthers proved anything this offseason, however, it's that you shouldn't bet against them. Watching the Golden Knights celebrate Tuesday only strengthened their resolve.
"I learned a [heck] of a lot more this year than last year and I think a lot of guys can say the same," Reinhart said. "There's going to be time to reflect on it a little bit more, but the group we have moving forward is going to be able to learn a lot from both the success we've had the last couple months and, obviously, this one as well.
"So, at this point, it's all about learning from it and getting ourselves back in this situation."
