Panthers’ Cup Remaining run stunning? These components predicted it

Like Nineties moviegoers discovering out Bruce Willis’ character really was dead all along, the Florida Panthers‘ dominant run to the Stanley Cup Final has taken us all abruptly.

However what else do each of these plot twists have in frequent? We must always have seen them coming.

Florida absolutely left its personal path of breadcrumbs within the common season, proper? Some hidden Easter eggs that point out simply what might be attainable for the Panthers in the event that they made it into the postseason?

The potential needed to be there. Florida bullying its method by means of the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes might hardly be unintended.

• Sergei Bobrovsky standing on his head?

• Matthew Tkachuk wielding a (game-winning) hero’s cape?

• Unparalleled scoring depth?

• A breakout star on the blue line?

• Paul Maurice pushing the precise buttons?

These have been a few of Florida’s best strengths during the last 16 video games. These seeds merely wanted time to develop, so the Panthers might be at their greatest when this all-important time of 12 months rolled round.

Florida was, in any case, solely in a playoff spot for lower than 30% of the season, and did not have an incredible shot at making the sphere till the ultimate weeks. Plus, the Panthers required a bit assist from the Pittsburgh Penguins dropping their ultimate two video games in opposition to the lottery-bound Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets to squeeze into the Jap Convention’s ultimate postseason slot.

The Panthers grabbed a decent grip on the chance and have not let go. Florida’s will and dedication alone ought to have put the hockey world on discover that when the Panthers arrived, they’d make landfall like a late-summer hurricane — unpredictable, highly effective and not possible to disregard.

Which brings us again to the unique query: Ought to we now have anticipated this from the Panthers?

Let’s rewind the tape and discover out.

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Bullish on Bobrovsky

Sergei Bobrovsky is the front-runner to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP. On January 1, that chance appeared laughable.

On the time, Bobrovsky was 8-12-1, with an .894 save share and three.32 goals-against common. Florida was sitting twenty third general within the league standings, at 16-18-4. These two issues have been doubtless associated.

Goaltending is the spine of any nice staff. And as Maurice talked about earlier than Sport 4 of the Jap Convention ultimate, netminders have to be particular at playoff time for a membership to go far.

Bobrovsky wasn’t giving these vibes within the fall. From winter into spring although, Bobrovsky was on observe towards a significant glow-up.

The turnaround began slowly round mid-January, with a breezy 5-0-1 stretch from Bobrovsky. He grew to become extra constant from there, and Bobrovsky totally re-announced himself as a dependable No.1 by going 11-4-1 with a .921 SV% and a couple of.63 GAA into late March.

If Bobrovsky hadn’t discovered his groove, Florida might not have been in place to push for the postseason in any respect. And had Bobrovsky not been felled by sickness in early April it is attainable his surge within the playoffs would not have been so stunning.

Because it was, Bobrovsky was changed between the pipes by journeyman Alex Lyon, who produced the best run of his profession (and a 6-1-1 report) to backstop Florida into its playoff berth. Lyon was then tapped to start out within the Panthers’ first-round collection, and Bobrovsky grew to become one thing of an afterthought.

The writing was on the wall, although. When Lyon faltered in opposition to Boston, and Bobrovsky stepped again in, the veteran primarily picked up the place he left off because the cool, calm, collected goaltender that improved steadily all through the common season. He is carried out the identical in these playoffs.

After stumbling briefly within the Boston collection — Bobrovsky gave up 5 targets on 30 pictures in a Sport 4 loss — he has since recorded precisely one postseason loss, in Sport 4 of the Panthers’ second-round collection in opposition to Toronto.

That places Bobrovsky at 11-1, with a .942 SV% and 1.95 GAA. Appear acquainted? It ought to. These stats aren’t far off what Bobrovsky was producing within the common season.

Verdict: Choose your jaw up the subsequent time Bobrovsky produces an eye-popping cease. Florida’s $10 million man was incomes his maintain earlier than the Panthers let unfastened within the playoffs. Now it is only a entire lot of enjoyable to observe how, precisely, he’ll maintain a puck out of the cage.

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Tkachuk? Clutch

Matthew Tkachuk has re-written his personal script this season.

That course of started effectively earlier than the playoffs. The postseason is merely highlighting how far Tkachuk has come (for these perhaps not paying shut consideration).

The 25-year-old orchestrated his exit from Calgary final offseason by informing the Flames he wouldn’t be committing there long-term. That was the primary wager Tkachuk positioned on himself. Calgary acquiesced by inking Tkachuk to an eight-year contract after which trading him to Florida for the beginning of a superior second act to his profession.

Tkachuk did not get his due for a lot of the season, although. Florida was so dangerous early on, with their season so swiftly deemed over, that Tkachuk’s prowess might fly simply underneath the radar. In the meantime, the winger was having the time of his life, racking up a career-high 109 factors and producing a second consecutive 40-plus purpose season. And of these 40 targets, six have been game-winners, tied with Aleksander Barkov for Florida’s staff lead within the class.

When Florida wanted him most, Tkachuk really turned up the heat. Within the Panthers’ ultimate 16 video games of the common season Tkachuk popped in 12 targets and added 13 assists. It was the kind of stretch that helped earn Tkachuk the primary Hart Trophy nomination of his profession. Massive-time stakes; big-time efficiency.

Is it any marvel that with a bigger stage within the playoffs, Tkachuk has risen to the event?

Tkachuk is second in postseason scoring, with 9 targets and 21 factors in 16 video games. He is collected 4 game-winning targets — three in extra time, one with lower than 5 seconds remaining in a sweep-clinching Sport 4 of the Jap Convention ultimate — and he is averaging almost 23 minutes of ice time per contest.

And for a participant that when earned his fame as a pest vulnerable to taking penalties, Tkachuk has been restrained. That began within the common season, too, one thing Maurice was fast to level out late within the Panthers’ push.

“There is a quiet maturation in his recreation,” Maurice instructed me in March. “You return and look and he is had [12 penalty minutes] in about his final [23] video games. We’d like him on the ice. So, his maturation as a participant, his relationships with the referees, his relationships with the sport [have evolved].”

Verdict: Tkachuk is doing all of it for Florida — and has for a while. If the Panthers’ report and place within the standings have been higher, would it not have made Tkachuk’s dominance previous to playoffs extra apparent? Completely. The truth that he is emerged because the postseason’s most well timed scorer is not any nice shock. Pucks discovered his stick when Florida wanted optimistic outcomes within the common season, too. The Panthers ought to depend on that to proceed within the Cup Remaining.

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Rolling within the deep

Florida’s scoring depth is hitting all the precise notes this postseason.

The Panthers have 15 skaters with at the very least one purpose by means of 16 video games. 5 are in double-digit level totals. Six have scored a number of game-winning targets.

Even Bobrovsky seems on the scoresheet with an help.

Being multifaceted up entrance is how Florida has stayed alive whereas different groups — with success extra tied to superstars driving the practice — made early-round exits.

To wit, Tkachuk has been the Panthers’ high scorer, however he did not mild the lamp as soon as in Florida’s five-game collection in opposition to Toronto. Did that damage the Panthers? Nope. As a result of Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe are harmful across the web, too. So are Barkov — and defenseman Brandon Montour.

Florida flows. They alter. It is greater than choosing up slack for each other; it is recognizing the best way to take advantage of each particular person’s potential. Sure scorers have thrived in several eventualities, tasked with completely different matchups. There is a chemistry to the Panthers’ group that is making them harmful in methods they did not all the time show within the common season, the place top-heavy scoring was extra their velocity.

The Panthers had a pair of gamers — Verhaeghe and Tkachuk — with 40-plus targets within the common season. Reinhart had 31. Barkov hit 23. After that, nobody was above 16. Contributions throughout the board improved together with Florida’s report, however the Panthers leaned on their greatest gamers to supply — typically to their very own detriment.

Accidents and sickness definitely impacted Florida’s regular-season depth points. The Panthers have stayed remarkably wholesome within the postseason and have not seen a participant go down for any vital stretch. However it was telling of how far Florida has come on this space when Barkov left Sport 3 of the convention ultimate with an harm. The Panthers rallied to remain on the right track and nonetheless got here out with a victory. May they’ve misplaced a major participant from their top-six and carried out the identical three months in the past? Perhaps not.

Verdict: Florida morphing right into a proverbial Swiss Military knife of scoring skills? Low-key stunning. The playoff subject is riddled with gamers going from regular-season playmakers to postseason duds. The Panthers are doing the other. They’ve turned one thing that wasn’t an apparent power earlier than into an important aspect of success. Rating one for the “that is a shock” aspect.

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Shifting on with Monty

The Panthers’ postseason might have resulted in Boston — if it weren’t for Brandon Montour.

Florida’s defenseman had a monster collection in opposition to the Bruins: He scored 5 targets in these seven video games (setting a report for many ever in a single playoff collection by a Panthers’ blueliner) and was at his greatest in Sport 7. That is when Montour not solely acquired Florida on the board first, however lit the lamp once more with one minute remaining in regulation to tie the sport and drive extra time — the place Verhaeghe’s tally despatched Florida on to face Toronto.

In Sport 1 in opposition to the Maple Leafs, it was Montour’s second to come back by means of once more, with the third interval game-winner that acquired Florida off on the precise foot. Montour hasn’t scored since then, however he is nonetheless arguably been one of the best defender in all of this postseason.

Montour once more proved his worth in gorgeous style throughout Sport 1 of the convention ultimate, a marathon four-overtime ordeal that had Montour clocking in at almost 60 minutes of ice time. He wore the workload effectively; anybody beforehand unaware of the defenseman’s huge capabilities might hardly low cost them after that.

Montour’s excellence was nothing new. The 29-year-old blew away all his earlier career-bests in a 16-goal, 73-point common season that ought to have cemented his standing as one of many league’s high defensemen. However Montour going the unheralded route was yet one more aspect impact of the Panthers’ spot within the standings.

Irrespective of. Montour retains making up for misplaced time — and common underappreciation — by stabilizing Florida’s blue line when the going will get powerful. He is additionally among the many Panthers’ greatest penalty killers and quarterbacks their high energy play whereas sustaining elite defensive particulars. It is the identical parts that Montour has introduced since October, for many who hadn’t observed.

Verdict: If you do not know, now you already know: Montour is Florida’s ace on the blue line. Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling have performed their half as effectively, however Montour’s coming-out get together within the playoffs is not some flash-in-the-pan instance of in a single day success. He put within the work to thrive on the hardest time of 12 months. If he hadn’t, Florida may need hit the golf course weeks in the past.

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Maurice making it work

Paul Maurice despatched ripples by means of the hockey sphere when he resigned as coach of the Winnipeg Jets in December 2021.

Would the veteran bench boss land on his ft someplace else? Or would different groups be cautious of hiring him?

The reply got here when Florida GM Invoice Zito opted to hire Maurice last summer as an alternative of sticking with interim coach Andrew Brunette. Contemplating Brunette had taken over from Joel Quenneville and led the Panthers to a Presidents’ Trophy-winning season, it was a considerably stunning choice to carry Maurice on as an alternative.

Key phrase being “was.” Maurice’s hiring now appears like a success.

Tkachuk mentioned Maurice makes it enjoyable coming to the rink. There is a sense Maurice permits the Panthers to be themselves, an usually uncommon high quality in long-time coaches who can pattern in direction of a stick-in-the-mud territory that doesn’t jibe with this new generation of players.

Contemplate the speech Maurice made after Florida’s win over Carolina in Sport 4 made them Jap Convention champions. It was brief, candy and embodied the fun-first mentality Tkachuk referenced as one in every of Maurice’s strengths.

The @FlaPanthers are having the time of their lives. ? #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/ZxvJmkNOdi

— NHL (@NHL) May 26, 2023

“We’re going to go now into, for all of us, the greatest time in our lives,” Maurice mentioned within the viral video. “It is a lifetime of labor to get to this. And there is one thing a lot extra essential. And it is truly not the [Prince of Wales] trophy. It is the time we will spend collectively from proper now till we get an even bigger [trophy]. It may be one of the best time of our lives.”

There’s positivity from Maurice. He does not lead with an iron fist however is not any push over, both. He’ll defend a participant simply as quickly as name him out — however solely when it is warranted. Maurice desires the Panthers to embrace the second with out letting in outdoors strain, and that stability has stored Florida on observe by means of each up and down of the postseason.

It is no marvel that the Panthers have cultivated the final word us-against-the-world mentality. Maurice appeared to have put his staff onto it effectively earlier than the playoffs began. It was solely final month Maurice admitted he’d misplaced a love for the sport after what occurred in Winnipeg. Over the course of this season, Maurice discovered his method again. The Panthers got here proper together with him.

Verdict: Teaching is an attention-grabbing enterprise. Jim Montgomery (rightfully) earned heaps of reward for the way he guided the Bruins by means of a historic common season. Maurice pulled in far fewer accolades whereas Florida was floundering a lot of the 12 months. However the Panthers’ eventual success ought to be in substantial half attributed to how Maurice acquired his group to buy-in as an alternative of bow-out. The latter may need been simpler.

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Finally, Maurice helped get the Panthers to this pinnacle — simply 4 wins away from a Stanley Cup. And Florida has the receipts to show this staff is not any fluke. It is the remainder of us who should not be shocked the Panthers ultimately put all of it collectively to come back accumulate their (overdue) respect.