We’re just a couple short days away from the Stanley Cup Final and, by all indications, we should be in for a fun series. No matter which team wins, they’ll celebrate the first championship in the history of the franchise. And the matchup sets up for a great series.
On one side we have the underdog 8-seed Florida Panthers. Florida pulled off a stunning series comeback in Round 1, trailing 3-1 to the historically good Bruins. After rallying to win that series in seven games, the Panthers rolled through the Maple Leafs and Hurricanes in the next two rounds losing just one game in those two series. Matthew Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky have starred for Florida and have been the main reasons why they have gotten to this point.
On the other side, we have Vegas. Unlike Florida, the Golden Knights were one of the favorites to win the Western Conference. They’ve been close to the Stanley Cup a few times in their short history — they made it to the Final in their inaugural season — but now it seems like they finally have their missing piece. In my opinion, that missing piece was Jack Eichel. Vegas has always been deep and able to roll four lines. But now with Eichel, they have a true offensive superstar.
Can Florida continue this Cinderella run? No one saw this coming when they snuck into the playoffs in the last week of the season (largely thanks to the Blackhawks). Or will Vegas have a championship parade down the strip? Hopefully we have a fun series ahead of us.
Panthers vs Golden Knights Series Schedule
Game 1: Saturday, June 3rd – Panthers at Golden Knights – 7:00 pm CT – TNT
Game 2: Monday, June 5th – Panthers at Golden Knights – 7:00 pm CT – TNT
Game 3: Thursday, June 8th – Golden Knights at Panthers – 7:00 pm CT – TNT
Game 4: Saturday, June 10th – Golden Knights at Panthers – 7:00 pm CT – TNT
Game 5 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 13 – Panthers at Golden Knights – 7:00 pm CT – TNT
Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, June 16th – Golden Knights at Panthers – 7:00 pm CT – TNT
Game 7 (if necessary): Monday, June 19th – Panthers at Golden Knights – 7:00 pm CT – TNT
Who Is Favored To Win The Series
On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Golden Knights are currently slight favorites at -125 to win the series while the Panthers are +105.
Keys To The Series
American Born. We have two superstars going head-to-head in this series. Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk have been two of the best players in the league throughout these playoffs. The two American forwards have the most points in these playoffs among active players, while Tkachuk has the second-most goals. When you get deep into the playoffs, you obviously need to do what got you here, but you also need your stars to play and produce stars. Both of these players have taken the next step to stardom in these playoffs, and whoever puts in the better series will put their team in a good chance to hoist the Cup.
Bob Is Back. As good as Tkachuk has been, Sergei Bobrovsky finding his form and playing like the $10 million goalie he is has been the biggest reason the Panthers are where they are. After going back and forth with journeyman Alex Lyon early in the playoffs, Bobrovsky grabbed the starting position for good midway through the Boston series and never gave it back. After a sub-par regular season, Bob has put the Panthers on his back in the playoffs with an 11-2 record, 2.21 GAA, and a .935 save percentage. His numbers aren’t quite Jean-Sebastian Giguere numbers from the 2002-03 postseason, but they’re in the same ballpark. Vegas might be the better team, but if Bob is playing at this level it might not matter.
Special Teams. Ok fine, this might be an easy answer, but special teams will be huge in the Stanley Cup Final. Oddly enough, neither team has been spectacular on special teams in the postseason. Usually, teams that get to this point either have massive success on either the power play or penalty kill or have been solid with both. Not the case here. Both teams have struggled to kill penalties this postseason. Florida has killed only 71.2 percent of their penalties while Vegas has killed just 63.0% of theirs. The power play hasn’t gone much better for Vegas, they’ve scored just 18.5% of the time on the man advantage. Florida has been solid with the extra man scoring 27.9% of the time. If one of these teams can get hot on special teams, it could give them a distinct advantage given the PK struggles for both squads so far.
Stanley Cup Final Prediction
I’ve gone back and forth on this pick all week. Both teams have a clear path to winning this series. My head says Vegas, but my gut is telling me to roll with Florida and the hot goalie.
Panthers in 7.
NEWSLETTER
