There was a healthy amount of “it’s a seven-game series… and “it’s the first to four wins… generic talk that was heard from Florida players following the Game 1 loss on Tuesday night.
And though those statements are true, the Cats knew they had to have a big response come Game 2…and they certainly succeeded when the final horn blew and the scoreboard read 5-1 in favor of the Panthers.
Yep…Florida took care of business “IF YOU WILL… on Thursday night!
Checkout the BY THE NUMBERS article that pulls some interesting stats from the Florida side of the ice through these first two games. There’s a good amount on there, but here’s a few I really liked seeing:
“0: Goals for Alexander Ovechkin. It's not an easy task by any means, but the Panthers have done a good job of keeping the Great 8 from touching twine through two games. That being said, Ovechkin, who scored 50 goals during the regular season, has dished out two assists.
.938: Sergei Bobrovsky's save percentage. There's no other way to put it, Bob has been a brick wall in the early goings of the postseason. After making 34 saves in Game 1, Bobrovsky looked nearly unbeatable as he turned aside 26 of 27 shots to backstop the Cats to a win in Game 2.
95: The number of hits the Panthers have dished out. Sitting fourth in the NHL in postseason hits, 14 different players have handed out at least four checks thus far. Sam Bennett leads the way with 13, while Mason Marchment (10) and MacKenzie Weegar (8) aren't too far behind. In Game 1, Florida's 56 hits were the team's second-most in a playoff game in franchise history.
43:24: Total time on ice for Aaron Ekblad. Like Aleksander Barkov said after Game 2, Ekblad has been a "true warrior" since getting back on the ice. Despite missing the final six weeks of the regular season with a lower-body injury, Ekblad, who netted his first-career playoff goal in Game 2, stands as Florida's leader in ice time through the first two games of the postseason.
52.9%: Florida's faceoff win percentage. The fourth-best team in the NHL in the dot in the playoffs, Claude Giroux has been setting with a team-high 65.9% success rate. In second, Aleksander Barkov has won 62.9% of his draws. As clutch as they come, Giroux has won a staggering 83.3% of the faceoffs that he's taken in the defensive zone through two games.
65.22%: Mason Marchment's CF% at 5-on-5. Utilizing his size and length to forecheck the Capitals into oblivion, the Panthers have led 30-16 in shot attempts and 15-11 in scoring chances when he's been on the ice at 5-on-5 through the first two games of the playoffs.“
How about Giroux winning 83.3% of faceoffs in the defensive zone..? Insane!
With the series tied 1-1, Game 3 heads to the nation’s capital where the Cats face not only a nemesis on the ice, but a nemesis on the clock. Florida can’t afford a sluggish start tomorrow when they meet the Caps at 1 ET / 12 CT (like they tend to do during games at this time).
Gotta start on time, boys. It doesn’t matter when that is- the work needs to be done either way.
See you at puck drop…Go Panthers!
📠Washington, DC#TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/WlEDYO4Vig
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 6, 2022