A 4-2 loss in Game 1 of the best-of-7 series Tuesday was a bit of a wake-up call for the Panthers after they rolled to the Presidents' Trophy with the best regular-season record in the NHL (58-18-6) and set their records for wins and points (122). But rather than make drastic changes, Florida wants to get back to what made it successful all season beginning Thursday at FLA Live Arena (7:30 p.m. ET; TBS, SN360, TVAS2, BSFL, NBCSWA).
"Obviously, when you're in a series, there's always adjustments to be made, but you don't want to change your game," forward Claude Giroux said. "We like the way we play. We have confidence in the way we play. At the end of the day, we just have to execute the plays and we're going to be fine."
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Unlike the Capitals, who have much of their core intact from their 2018 Stanley Cup championship team, the Panthers are still learning about how to win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Florida has not won a playoff series since its 1996 run to the Stanley Cup Final and had three players -- forwards Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen -- who hadn't played in an NHL playoff game before Tuesday.
That showed in the Panthers' nerves and some of the mistakes they made in Game 1. With the Capitals utilizing their forecheck and physicality to create sustained pressure in the offensive zone and playing a structured game in the neutral zone, the Panthers had trouble generating speed and offensive-zone pressure of their own.
Despite that, Florida led 2-1 until neutral-zone turnovers led to Evgeny Kuznetsov's tying breakaway goal 8:14 into the third period and T.J. Oshie's winning goal at 10:37.
"We didn't probably manage the puck as well as we should have against how they played through the neutral zone," Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. "I thought we struggled a little bit. Again, credit to them. They clogged it up pretty good and they were tight. To me, it all came down to a little bit of puck support. We were really, really disconnected offensively with the puck.
"Again, credit to them, but we have to find a way to fight through it."
That too is part of playing in the playoffs.
The Capitals game plan worked well for them in Game 1. Now the Panthers need to adjust to what the Capitals were doing so they can take advantage of their speed and offensive skill. During the regular season. Florida averaged an NHL-leading 4.11 goals per game and 37.3 shots on goal per game but was limited to two goals and 32 shots on goal in Game 1.
"They've got guys over there that won before and know what it takes to win, and they've adjusted to us a little bit," Panthers forward Anthony Duclair. "But at the same time, I think for myself and for other guys that use our speed as a main weapon, you want to make sure that you're hard on the forecheck. They do a good job clogging up the neutral zone, but you've got to make sure you find a way to put [the puck] behind them and go get it. The better we do that, I think we can tire them out and make sure that we capitalize on our chances when we get them."
Duclair scored 31 goals during the regular season but was held without a shot on goal in Game 1. Center Aleksander Barkov, who led the Panthers with 39 goals during the regular season, had three shots on goal.
Center Sam Bennett's goal that tied the game 1-1 with 2:05 remaining in the first period was the result of one of the few times Florida was able to carry the puck through the neutral zone with speed. But the Panthers weren't able to generate enough sustained pressure in the offensive zone or traffic in front of the net to make goalie Vitek Vanecek's job more difficult.
That will be among their objectives for Game 2.
"There's no panic in that locker room," Duclair said. "The spirits are up. It's just one game. It's going to be a long series. We expected that. We didn't think it was going to be easy by any means. So for us it's just a little bit of a challenge, but we'll get through it."
NHL.com independent correspondent Alain Poupart contributed to this report
