No place like home for Panthers after Vegas rout
SUNRISE: A humbled Florida Panthers squad will count on their home fans to help turn around a dismal start to their Stanley Cup Final campaign, after the Golden Knights took a 2-0 series lead in Las Vegas on Monday.
Vegas were considered the overwhelming favourites heading into the best-of-seven championship series and thus far Goliath has been firmly in control of David, with the Golden Knights clinching the first two games 5-2 on Saturday and 7-2 on Monday.
Florida get a reprieve from the bright lights of Sin City tomorrow, Thai time, when they play Game Three in front of the same home crowd that propelled their Cinderella run through the play-offs.
“Going home and playing in front of our amazing fans and the momentum we’ve had playing there, like the last month, and honestly since January we’ve been a solid home team and you know we’re going to need them,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said.
The Golden Knights sent four pucks into the net before the Panthers finally got on the board on Monday, with Canadian centre Nicolas Roy getting the game winner with a second-period wrist shot off assists from William Carrier and Zach Whitecloud.
“Parts of our game we know we can improve we are going to have to get to real fast, there’s no doubt about that,” said Panthers head coach Paul Maurice.
“We’ll have a pretty simple game plan — I don’t think it’s about scoring goals in this series because I think it’s about defending the rush and we weren’t great at that.”
The Panthers play the Golden Knights at FLA Live Arena in Game Three of the Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Florida.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche re-signed defenceman Wyatt Aamodt to a one-year contract on Tuesday.
Aamodt, 25, played 52 games in 202223 for the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, and collected three goals and 15 assists in his first full professional season, adding one assist in seven play-off contests. He has played a total of 55 AHL regular-season games and 16 in the postseason.
The 6-foot, 204-pound Aamodt signed as an undrafted free agent with the Colorado organisation in April 2022.
He played four seasons at Minnesota State in 2018-22, concluding with the team’s loss to the University of Denver in the NCAA championship game.