Outsider Sports Stanley Cup Preview: Florida Panthers vs Vegas Golden Knights
The Stanley Cup Final is finally upon us, and it will be the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights battling for Lord Stanley’s cup. It’s been a wild ride littered with some great games and blowouts, but like always, the Stanley Cup Playoffs have been amazing. Now with the finale finally here, we will take a dive into this matchup and how we think it plays out.
Image credit to NHL.com
How They Got Here
The Vegas Golden Knights’ path to the finals have been a bit more traditional, but still very impressive. They earned the top seed in the Western Conference, and rolled through Winnipeg in five games despite an embarrassing blowout-loss in game one. Vegas then followed that up in round two by knocking out Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers in six games. Even in the Western Conference Final, Vegas dominated most of the series despite failing to close the series out in games four and five.
For the Florida Panthers, it feels like so long ago when they were clawing their way into the playoffs. After barely securing the final wild card, the Panthers then faced the best regular season team in NHL history, and a 3-1 deficit in that series. Florida opened the playoffs with its backs against the wall just four games in. But then Sergei Bobrovsky stepped in between the pipes and the Panthers have only lost one game since. Now the Panthers enter the Stanley Cup final after dismantling the Maple Leafs in five games and sweeping Carolina in the Eastern Conference Final.
How They Matchup
The Panthers and Golden Knights both bring stars to the table, but they bring fairly similar rosters. In terms of star power for Vegas, Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Alex Pietrangelo headline the strip. While the Panthers match that with Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad. The most glaring advantages in this one really come down to the depth Vegas has on the back end and Florida’s goaltending in Bobrovsky.