The one purpose Boqvist was within the lineup was as a result of Sam Reinhart, one in all Florida’s different prime stars, was not enjoying.
Most groups dropping a participant pretty much as good as Reinhart can be in hassle for a convention last playoff sport. It by no means even got here near mattering for the Panthers.
Carolina’s Jap Convention Remaining nightmare continues
It is simply arduous to understand how a single franchise can hold getting this far within the playoffs, after which hold falling flat on its face when it will get right here.
Saturday’s loss is the fifteenth consecutive Jap Convention loss for the Carolina Hurricanes franchise going again to the 2009 playoffs.
Even worse, they haven’t even had a lead up to now 5 Jap Convention Remaining video games.
The dearth of goal-scoring in opposition to elite groups stays an issue for them within the playoffs, however this sequence has launched a brand new downside — they merely can’t cease the Panthers.
Carolina was one of many NHL’s greatest defensive groups throughout the common season, and the Panthers are simply going by them with little to no resistance.
Florida has scored at the least 5 targets in every of the primary three video games of the sequence, together with 5 targets within the third interval of Saturday’s sport alone.
The Hurricanes have one large flaw (a scarcity of star energy) that nearly actually lowers their ceiling. However this sequence would possibly merely be extra about Florida being an absolute drive of a hockey group.
Florida hockey is ruining the thought of parity within the NHL
If Florida can win simply one of many subsequent 4 video games, it will likely be its third consecutive Stanley Cup Remaining look.
They may have an opportunity to win their second Stanley Cup in a row.
That is noteworthy as a result of the thought of a back-to-back champion within the NHL was nearly utterly remarkable for about 20 years within the NHL all through the late Nineties and a lot of the 2000s and 2010s.
If Florida can pull this off, nevertheless, they would be the third group up to now decade to win two in a row — becoming a member of the 2016 and 2017 Pittsburgh Penguins and the 2020 and 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning — and the second group to achieve three consecutive finals (becoming a member of the Lightning in 2020, 2021 and 2022).
It could additionally imply that the previous six Jap Convention representatives within the Stanley Cup Remaining can be both Florida or Tampa Bay.
The concept of parity may be slipping away within the NHL, given all of that.
