SUNRISE, Fla. — We’ll see if Sergei Bobrovsky makes it to Sunday’s availability or if the Florida Panthers can’t bail him out of Broward County Jail in time.
A warrant had to be issued for his arrest late Saturday night when the Panthers’ goalie robbed the Edmonton Oilers left and right and stole Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final during a 3-0 Panthers’ victory at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers hadn’t been this outplayed all postseason before this one, but Bobrovsky was dynamite in allowing two goals or fewer for the 11th time in his past 12 starts.
How dominant were the Oilers? Through two periods, the Panthers were outshot 26-12 and, according to Natural Stat Trick, out-chanced 24-10 in all situations. The high-danger chances were 14-3.
Bobrovsky, who finished with 33 saves, completed the 16th shutout in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final — last achieved by Roberto Luongo in 2011. At the age of 35 years, 262 days, Bobrovsky is the oldest goaltender ever to open the Final with a shutout. The last goaltender with a shutout in any game of the Final at age 35-plus was Tim Thomas, who had two with the Boston Bruins at age 37 in 2011.
Bobrovsky became the first goaltender to win a game in the Stanley Cup Final at age 35 or older since Martin Brodeur in 2012.
Carter Verhaeghe, a Stanley Cup Final veteran playing in his third in five years, and Evan Rodrigues, making his Stanley Cup Final debut, scored for Florida, which won its third playoff game in a row and the opener in its second straight Final appearance.
Eetu Luostarinen scored the Panthers’ third goal on an empty net.
Teams that win Game 1 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final hold an all-time series record of 64-20 (.762), including a 51-10 (.836) mark when starting at home. Each of the past three Cup champions won Game 1 of the Final.
Game 2 will be Monday night back in South Florida.
Here are five takeaways on how the Panthers stole the 1-0 series lead.
Sam Bennett races to his own dump-in and sets up Evan Rodrigues in tight, doubling the Panthers lead to 2!#TimeToHunt | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/PojBPwKDoa
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) June 9, 2024
Bobrovsky puts on a show in the first
It’s not often the Panthers are outplayed as dramatically as they were in the first period. They were outshot 13-4, and according to Natural Stat Trick, outchanced at five-on-five 8-3. The high-danger chances were 5-1 in favor of the Oilers. But the score after 1 was 1-0 Florida thanks to Bobrovsky, who was fantastic as the Panthers got crossed up multiple times in the first 20 minutes.
Bobrovsky, who was credited with 1.27 goals saved above expected in the frame, denied Connor McDavid on a drive to the net and Adam Henrique and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on breakaways.
The Panthers went 10 minutes without a shot at one point but scored on their only good look of the period — and their first shot of the game — by Verhaeghe.
Bobrovsky was the first goalie to make 13-plus saves in the first period of Game 1 in the Final while allowing zero goals against since Luongo in 2011.
Yet ANOTHER breakaway save from Sergei Bobrovsky 🤯 pic.twitter.com/jXq9iHRMu5
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) June 9, 2024
Verhaeghe comes through, as usual
Mr. Clutch’s dramatic goals usually come in overtime or tied third period, but his 25th career playoff goal and team-leading 10th this postseason four minutes into the game will do.
The Panthers generated an odd-man rush when Aleksander Barkov got a beat on McDavid and sent Verhaeghe a cross-slot pass for a 1-0 lead.
Who knew how big that goal would be as the Oilers wouldn’t take their foot off the gas the entire first period to no avail.
Verhaeghe’s 10 goals are one shy of Matthew Tkachuk’s team record in a postseason set last year. It was his 13th career go-ahead goal in the postseason, tops among all NHL players since 2021 when he joined the Panthers and scored his first career playoff goal.
Carter Verhaeghe scores the first goal of the #StanleyCup Final and gives the Panthers an early lead 🔥
🎥 @BR_OpenIcepic.twitter.com/v2YOf7PFY7
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) June 9, 2024
The Nurse-Ceci blues
It really felt like the Oilers had something cooking with their defense pairs at the end of the Dallas Stars series. They moved Brett Kulak over and up to play on the right side of Darnell Nurse, bumped Cody Ceci down and inserted Philip Broberg. They abandoned that plan heading into the Stanley Cup opener.
There were a couple of reasons that factored into the decision. For one, Kulak said he didn’t like the way he was contributing on his weak side. Also, coach Kris Knoblauch said Saturday morning that he felt the Oilers didn’t defend well enough in the clincher against Dallas, when they were outshot 35-10.
All that meant Nurse and Ceci were reunited. And it didn’t go well. Even if it wasn’t all their fault, they were on the ice for both of Florida’s non-empty-net goals and played a part in each.
The first Panthers goal came on a three-on-two in which Nurse and Ceci each made a play on the puck-carrier — Nurse on Sam Reinhart and Ceci on Barkov — which left Verhaeghe alone in front for an easy goal. Some more vigorous backchecking from McDavid and/or Zach Hyman could have helped the situation.
On the second one, Sam Bennett beat Ceci to bump into the right of Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner and fired a pass in front to Rodrigues for a one-timer goal. Nurse was standing by the post instead of in the slot. Evander Kane did let Rodrigues go to the net, too.
Oilers power-play issues
It’s not like the Oilers didn’t have their looks in this game – and that was especially the case on the power play. They were all over the Panthers when they had the man advantage. They just couldn’t score.
The Oilers had 13 shot attempts, seven on net, and had five high-danger chances on three unsuccessful power plays.
Their best chance came on their first opportunity when Leon Draisaitl whipped a pass up ice to Nugent-Hopkins at the blue line, springing him for a breakaway. Nugent-Hopkins deked to his backhand and tried to beat Bobrovsky to the far post, but the Panthers goalie was there with his left pad to turn him away.
Hyman also missed a glorious chance when he backhanded a shot over the net with Bobrovsky down and out.
The power play is the Oilers’ bread and butter. It dominated in the Los Angeles Kings series, scoring on half of its 18 chances. That carried over early against the Vancouver Canucks and, even though there was a dry spell (10 straight goalless tries), it accounted for the series-winning goal. It came through when it mattered most against Dallas, closing the matchup by going 4-for-5.
The Oilers aren’t going to win the Cup Final without their power play contributing.
Bennett continues tremendous run
Bennett, who scored four times in the Eastern Conference final, was a menace in Game 1. Not only did he assist on Rodrigues’ goal by outhustling the Oilers to a dump-in, he had 11 of the Panthers’ 63 hits, including one big one of his old junior teammate, McDavid.
Bennett, who hurt his hand in the first round, returned against Boston and has been one of Florida’s best players ever since. You can tell he’s healthy because with two games left in the third round, the second-line center began taking faceoffs again.
He’s also adding offense and contributing with his usual physical ways, so much so that in the third period Saturday, Kane took a big run at him without even thinking of going for the puck.
Sam Bennett with a big hit on McDavid 👀 pic.twitter.com/y7A0Q3UTjX
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 9, 2024
(Top photo of Zach Hyman and Sergei Bobrovsky: Elsa / Getty Images)
