Florida is facing nothing more and nothing less than a must-win on Friday morning. Now captain Aleksander Barkov also has to step up in terms of the goal-scoring game.
SUNRISE. The Florida Panthers returned home on Tuesday after two Stanley Cup final losses on away ice. On Wednesday, the team already practiced at its own home arena in Sunrise, about 45 minutes northwest of Miami.
The short exercises themselves were even a bit special.
If you take into account the issues that Florida had difficulties with in the opening two finals, at least the half-day practices were not planned based on them. The team practically did not focus on defense or opening play at all. Instead, on the ice, for example, superior attacks were seen.
For the Finns, the most exciting topic during training was whether Florida’s captain would show up Alexander Barkov from a three-day media fast in front of the media.
Yes he did.
– It was nice to get back home to my own bed to sleep, the relaxed and cheerful Barkov began.
Faucets open?
Florida really hopes that Barkov and his team will enjoy themselves and perform better in their home arena. In the playoffs, Florida has actually played better on away ice, even though the final series in Vegas started with a small win.
Before the two final losses, its away balance was a handsome 8–1. The home balance is 4–3.
Barkov has been among the best of the underperforming team, but at the same time the points column is a dull read after two matches: 0+0. The number one center in Vegas Jack Eichel has recorded powers 0+4 in his account.
– There is always pressure and I like it. I always set high expectations for myself because it gets the best out of me. The situation is exactly the same now. I haven’t made the result I would like, but tomorrow I have another chance to do it again, Barkov said.
However, Barkov alone will not topple the strong Vegas. For example, a star pier Matthew Tkachuk has so far played more after the whistles than between them. The Yankki player has 36 ice time minutes and an unfathomable three ten-minute misconduct penalties.
Florida’s unruly ball game has been one of the talking points of the final series and even the turning points of the series so far.
– We have taken too many ice creams. You definitely don’t want to start the game with three ices like last time. It is certain that it will backfire at some point.
– Tkachuk, on the other hand, is a player who plays hard and that’s how we want him to play. Sure, he’s a better player for us on the ice than on the ice, but the judges take him pretty seriously because everyone knows how he plays. We want him to play hard in the future, Barkov said.
A tolk for playing defense
It’s also the case that Florida needs to work out a few game-changing issues before its star players can shine in the scoring game. Playing defense in the defensive zone has been difficult for the Panthers, as has been opening the game under pressure.
Difficulties in the opening game can be seen, for example, in the puck possession statistics, where Vegas dominated Florida 36–18.
– They have gotten too much to come in the middle lane with the puck. We need to get better back and side pressure on it. We also need to do more work on the offensive end so that they don’t get to come so freely, Barkov stated.
Barkov also hopes to improve his opening game.
– The opponent has played well against our opening play. We have to see how the center can be more helpful in that and anyway, how to go with pakki-pak, reverses or whatever these hockey terms are. This is still not about playing the opening game, it’s just that everyone has to do more work.
The next final will be played on Friday morning at 03 Finnish time. Live broadcast on TV2 and Areena.
Follow the final matches on Urheilu’s website in this article.