The Jap Convention Closing opened on Tuesday night time with the Florida Panthers rolling to a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Listed below are some key takeaways from their victory.
Can anyone beat Florida 4 occasions?
This actually is the million-dollar query for the playoffs. Tampa Bay beat the Panthers as soon as within the first spherical. Toronto managed to get three wins within the second spherical.
However it isn’t a race to 2 or three wins. It’s a race to 4 wins. The concept of anyone beating this Panthers group 4 occasions in a seven-game stretch simply appears actually laborious to understand given the way in which they’re taking part in — in addition to the way in which they’ve performed over the earlier two postseasons.
With back-to-back Stanley Cup Closing appearances and now three consecutive Jap Convention Closing appearances, there must be little question as to how good this group is, particularly in crunch time within the playoffs.
However there may be additionally typically a bodily toll that comes with that a lot hockey over a two- or three-year window. Groups can break down or decelerate. They’ll get drained.
It by no means appears to occur with this Panthers group as they only preserve getting stronger and stronger.
Each potential ingredient and wish-list merchandise you possibly can have for a group exists on this roster.
They’ve stars on the prime of the lineup in Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart.
They’re as deep as any group within the league with 17 completely different gamers scoring not less than one objective in these playoffs.
They’re extremely well-coached and have some of the aggressive forechecks and taking part in types within the league.
They’ll beat you any approach you need to attempt to play them. They’ll outscore you, they will grind their solution to a low-scoring win, they will struggle you, they will skate with you and so they can shut down your stars.
They’re the favourite in each sequence they play till anyone really knocks them off.
It is simply laborious to think about anyone doing that anytime quickly.
Carolina’s Jap Convention Closing struggles proceed
Here’s a considerably baffling statistic to ponder: Tuesday’s loss was the Hurricanes’ thirteenth consecutive loss within the Jap Convention Closing spherical — and the ninth straight below head coach Rod Brind’Amour.
They had been swept in every of their previous three Convention Closing appearances, shedding 4 straight video games to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, 4 straight to the Boston Bruins in 2019 and 4 straight to the Panthers in 2022.
That shedding streak continued on Tuesday.
It’s one other harsh reminder that the Hurricanes can preserve attending to the entrance door of the Stanley Cup Closing, they will preserve loudly knocking on it, however they’ve been unable to really get inside.
Sergei Bobrovsky retains constructing his legacy
Narratives can change rapidly in professional sports activities, and Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is likely one of the greatest examples for that.
The largest knock on him early in his profession was that for all his regular-season success (together with two Vezina Trophies), he was by no means capable of put it collectively the identical approach within the playoffs. He had some notorious playoff meltdowns as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets, however he has utterly flipped that storyline round since becoming a member of the Panthers.
Tuesday was one other postseason gem for him as he stopped 31 of 33 photographs, together with some nice Hurricanes possibilities early within the sport when the rating was nonetheless inside attain.
He has already put collectively a Corridor of Fame resume for himself with the 2 Vezina Trophies, 429 (and counting) regular-season wins and back-to-back Stanley Cup Closing appearances (with a hoop). If he provides one other championship, and a back-to-back one at that, he goes from slam-dunk Corridor of Famer to potential first-ballot Corridor of Famer.
