The Florida Panthers celebrate after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at FLA Live Arena on May 22, 2023 in Sunrise, Florida.
Posted on 05/24/2023 7:35:24 AM PDT by FLNittany
The Florida Panthers celebrate after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at FLA Live Arena on May 22, 2023 in Sunrise, Florida.
SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers have exceeded expectations every step of the way during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Now, South Florida’s hockey team is one game away from doing something it hasn’t done since 1996.
During Monday night’s Eastern Conference Final Game 3, it only took one goal.
Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves for his first career playoff shutout to help the Panthers take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.
Alex Lopez, Jacob Langsam, And TJ Peterson are life-long Panthers fans.
“Everything that’s been going on, it’s just…wow” said Lopez.
The three have a podcast called Panther Pouri, and they, like other diehard fans, are enjoying this ride as much as they can.
“To say surreal doesn’t even really capture it,” said Peterson. “It was surreal two weeks ago. This doesn’t happen to the Florida Panthers, it simply doesn’t.”
On Tuesday, Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad and forward Eetu Luostarinen addressed the media inside FLA Live Arena.
Ekblad, who has been with the Panthers since being selected first overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, said the team and its fans deserve this.
“Waiting, working to get here, to get to this opportunity, is obviously a long time coming for us, for them,” said Ekblad. “It’s huge, it’s exciting.”
And the fans couldn’t agree more.
“It’s the most energizing feeling that I’ve ever experienced as a hockey fan, being in this building, just packed to the rafters with Panthers fans,” said Langsam. “The rafters which hopefully will have another couple of banners hanging in the near future.”
There was also some good news from Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice on Tuesday.
He said he’s “optimistic” Florida captain Aleksander Barkov, who left Monday’s game during the first period with a lower-body injury, will be available for Game 4 on Wednesday.
Love seeing rats tossed on the ice again.
From 1996:
“3-0 lead in the series”
The hurricanes toast.
“Florida hockey team.”
I don’t understand why the Panthers have such a tough time filling seats during the regular—they’ve had competitive teams most seasons. Maybe a cup win will turn that trend around.
Though a Bruins fan from way back, I always like a good underdog story.
Sports? Is that still a thing?
I was surprised that I read this year their home games were 86% sold out. This is bolstered by all the northern snowbird hockey fans showing up in droves though.
Playoff hockey is unlike most other sporting events. The excitement and the tension is off the charts. I went to one of the Toronto games and was absolutely blown away by the atmosphere - and the only other sporting events I’ve been to in the last 10 years are Penn State whiteouts.
I’ve no horse in this race....but it’s great to see the enthusiasm. A 3-0 lead is, statistically speaking, very difficult to lose.
NHL teams have learned that the regular season means almost nothing. In fact, there's something called "The Curse of the President's Trophy" at work here. The winner of the President's Trophy -- awarded to the team that finishes with the best record at the end of the regular season -- usually has a disappointing performance in the playoffs.
The Boston Bruins set an NHL record for wins in the 2022-23 season, then lost to Florida in the first round of the playoffs.
Florida won the President's Trophy last season, then were swept by Tampa Bay in the second round.
The 2014-15 New York Rangers were the last team to even make the third round of the playoffs after winning the President's Trophy.
Since the changes adopted in the NHL after the 2004-05 lockout, only two teams -- the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings and the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks -- have won the President's Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.
This will likely go down as a disastrous season for the NHL. Having four teams in the conference finals that play in cities that don't even have winter weather can't be good for national TV ratings. And two of these teams -- Dallas and Florida -- were in such financial distress just a few years ago that they were the subject of talk about possible relocation.
Miami is an awful sports town in many respects, and it has no business hosting a professional franchise in a cold-weather sport like ice hockey.
And then you also have the Heat doing the same thing in the NBA playoffs, they could have swept the Celtics last night.
Both the Panthers and Heat were 8 Seeds.
- It's hush-hush and I can't name names, but let's say that there's a senior citizens' community in a certain state that's in the market for a hockey team.
- The Chiefs?
- Actually, it's Florida.
- They're getting a bunch of old geezers down there from the northeast.
- And what do you think those old geezers really miss in Florida?
- I think there are a lot of shysters in Florida.
- Hockey. Their own team. A Saturday night game.
- Hell, those poor old people, they gotta have something to root for.
And now the Heat are going to beat the Celtics. Boston folks must really hate Miami now.
first time ever, both the NBA semi finals series and both NHL semi final series are all 3-0...
Miami and Fla. Atlantic in the basketball Final 4 too.
What’s an “nba”? 😏
I've been a TB Lightning fan since 1992 and their fan base has been growing since they won the cup in 2004--to the point were every game has been a sellout for the last 3 years or so. The downside is ticket prices have skyrocketed for those of us who aren't season ticket holders due to resellers.
Good point. Even the once popular Jai Lai is on the skids.
This one isn’t that improbable. They won the President’s Trophy last year. They struggled with injuries in the first half of the season, which held down their points, but once they got the full squad in place they started rolling. That’s the thing with these really long seasons, most teams are not their record. You’ve got to look at the last 2 months before the playoffs to see who a team is. And the Panthers are fast and tough with good tending.
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