Post-Game Talk: Stanley Cup Final, Game 2 (VGK leads FLA 2-0): Panthers head home needing a reset

[behemolari]

Exactly. The officiating whining is so cringe inducing.

Always wary of teams that rely on astonishingly great goalie play. Never lasts.

Not over yet.

I don't think anyone is whining level of officiating, they are very professional men and are doing exactly what paid off. What is really annoying people are unbelievable stupid they buy the current shitshow, these finals have not been sport so far but prewritten circus.

I would be happy to see one hockey game.

 

[CanePanther]

Been at work any updates on Lusto or Gudas ?

 

[Ms Maggie]

I'm not disputing that Vegas has been the better team, but Panthers haven't been able to establish their game and rhythm.

Take Game 1, they started out really well and Panthers were the better team. Goal mouth scramble, a bunch of back and forth, and only Cousins goes into the box. That already starts changing the rhythm. Then add basically a weird phantom call on Mahura that leads to the VGK goal and they're going "wtf". And its not like Mahura did anything we haven't seen done countless other times by both teams. Vegas won period 3 and Tkachuk/Bennett did dumb stuff. So yeah, Vegas was the better team, but the whole rhythm of how the game started was changed.

Game 2 is the same, they started ok, then Lomberg gets called for something we've seen let go many times while Barbashev gets nothing with Gudas gone. Then Monty gets another one of those weird penalties, which also made no sense because play kept on going and then refs decided to call it for some reason. Vegas exits the period up 2-0.

So yes, Vegas has been the better team. They've capitalized on their chances. Been better defensively. Hill has played well. Not disputing any of that. Not even saying the refs have been biased, just that they've been inconsistent and calling it different this series which has screwed with the Panthers way of playing. And now we're down Luostar and Gudas, its a tough hill to climb with all that.

Now we go into Game 3. There's a certain way we have to play to be successful. Will that be allowed? I have no idea and the Panthers probably don't know either. If this won't be called like all other Cup Finals and the rest of the Playoffs have been called, I don't like our chances. Its technically correct, but it's also incredibly frustrating. If I'm any of the teams we eliminated, I'd be pissed too because we got away with way more the other series.



Call me whining or complaining, I don't care. Games are just being called differently and its pretty clear to not just whiny Panther fans. I'm not even saying its biased, its just inconsistent and not being called the same.

Maybe I shouldn't complain because how the games have been called has helped us get to the Cup Final, but its frustrating to let Panthers develop and win with a certain play style and now they break out the rule book.

Well if throwing out the rule book helped the Panthers win the first 3 rounds, seems the Canes et al have the real beef.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Been at work any updates on Lusto or Gudas ?

Not really

 

[IceManCat]

I don't think it's Vegas. And I don't think it's coaching. I think it's the long layoff. If we were to replace Toronto in the second round with Vegas. The Panthers look much better than this against Vegas. There's nothing a team like this could do to dial it down for 10 days, and then crank it back up to the highest level of hockey that's being played at this time of the year. It took them months to get to the level they were at before the break.
It's not just working hard, it's knowing what to do. And that's not just instruction, it's trial and error.
Maybe they can get back to that level shortly. I don't know. They need to.

I agree it’s a factor I would hope that’s it not since we are talking about professionals here. But it may be a factor for sure.

 

[Great8Cam]

We get last change for 2 straight games now. We will see if anything changes.

Overall they have looked lost.

Losing Luo has made a big difference. If we had him we would have 3 lines

Lomberg does not belong anywhere but on the 4th line. He skates around like crazy and accomplishes absolutely nothing

Bring in one of the AHL forwards which would be a huge improvement over Lomberg

White is doing nothing. Keep switching him with Dalpe

Now Gudas looks to be out

Get an AHL D man to take his place if Gudas is out. Fitzy isn’t cutting it.

Game 3 seats in the upper level have gone down to $325

I will be there for the next game and the 4th game. But I don’t have much hope for either Game.

Vegas has a real 4th line. We have Shitter E Staal and White.

 

[KW]

I’m not doom and gloom. I’m looking forward to game 3. I think the Panthers will show a different way to play Vegas. I don’t know if they’ll win but it’ll be a much better chance for Florida.

They’ll start blocking shots and shooters. They’ll start clogging up the neutral zone. They’ll start getting in front of Hill. They’ll start getting some calls their way for a change and they’ll execute on PP.

 

[Great8Cam]

A big problem on D is Shitter Staal and Stinkblad.

Stinkblad is remarkably slow and is not good enough to be on the 1st pair anymore.

Monty and Forsling have to be a hell of a lot better

 

[CashMash]

I wish I had as much faith as the poll... So close and yet so far.

 

[FrolikFan67]

We started to focus on wrong things. Who gonna hoist the cup, is Horny going to play if we lead 3-0, what drink for win etc etc. Burn those thoughts, bad juju.

Stay humble and say we suck, and then win when they are underestimating us. Win game 3 or bye bye.

I haven’t read all the comments yet. Last night broke me and I was going to swear off from the boards, you tube, etc for a couple days just to get my bearings straight. I’m feeling not nearly as depressed as I did earlier today (it was really bad), but aside from all that I really did hate Yandle asking players oh who will get the cup handed to them. Why would you ask players a question like that right before it begins? Not like that’s the reason why we lost but seriously keep that virus out of the locker room. For a team who focused so hard to just worry about the game ahead and no further you’re gonna get the thought in their head as if they’re already winning the thing? Great, and guess what, it’s been an utter embarrassment so far. I admire anyone who’s still optimistic but I’ve conceded the fact that my dream of this ever happening is a distant thought that’s never coming true. I’m not even looking forward to Thursday really. We’ll see flo rida before, I can say I saw a Stanley cup game in person, try to get at least one finals victory in our teams history and hopefully at home and if this is ending soon just do it on the road. Sorry to vent or bring down any mood

 

[CashMash]

Hear me, Hockey Gods! I'll sacrifice my new haircut and go bald mode if the Panthers win the next game! I will not ask for more than them making it a series.

 

[FinlandPanther]

I haven’t read all the comments yet. Last night broke me and I was going to swear off from the boards, you tube, etc for a couple days just to get my bearings straight. I’m feeling not nearly as depressed as I did earlier today (it was really bad), but aside from all that I really did hate Yandle asking players oh who will get the cup handed to them. Why would you ask players a question like that right before it begins? Not like that’s the reason why we lost but seriously keep that virus out of the locker room. For a team who focused so hard to just worry about the game ahead and no further you’re gonna get the thought in their head as if they’re already winning the thing? Great, and guess what, it’s been an utter embarrassment so far. I admire anyone who’s still optimistic but I’ve conceded the fact that my dream of this ever happening is a distant thought that’s never coming true. I’m not even looking forward to Thursday really. We’ll see flo rida before, I can say I saw a Stanley cup game in person, try to get at least one finals victory in our teams history and hopefully at home and if this is ending soon just do it on the road. Sorry to vent or bring down any mood

I think everyone feels this one way or another to be honest lol.

 

[KW]

 

[scholl]

Nobody is arguing they are not legit penalties according to the rule book. A lot of things are legit penalties if the rule book is called as written all the time. There would be a constant stream to the box if everything was called. Except its not always called as written, there is a lot of interpretation depending on the time of year, time of the game, the game state, etc. and that's my point.

The calling of infractions was super loose through the first three rounds and all of a sudden tightened up in the final. And don't tell me that those were the only two legit penalties. I'm not even saying its biased, just that is stupidly inconsistent and that is going to be more detrimental to the Panthers given how they like to play and have been successful.

Players don't have to be stupid on ice. Those two examples were sings of extreme stupidity. It was not like that they gave referees an opportunity to give a penalty. They were asking for penalty. Players can play hard and give some wood but in my opinion in both of these situations only a lunatic would not give a penalty. Montour has absolutely no business going to that situation where there were already two players battling and Lomberg hit the guy too high. It's referees' job to keep the game in control and that includes taking overreactions away.

 

[austropanther]

I dunno. I think on paper this team didn't stack up to any team, but they had to win 4 games to advance and they did.
It's not like it's the NFL where one game decides who advances where a few fluke plays can ruin the "better" team from winning.

Toronto had the big 4, then nothing. Florida did a good job eliminating their chances and only Nylander did anything against us. Sure, they had some bad post luck, but it's not like they had tons of better scoring chances, outside of when Maurice played the turtle game in the 3rd.

Carolina had injuries take out a few good players but that's just the NHL. It's rare to be 100% healthy. It was a great battle between 3 great goalies.

I think the only series the other team blew was Boston and that was a mix of the coach/Ullmark playing injured and their sloppy turnovers which the Panthers took advantage of.

The game does change in the playoffs and the Panthers took advantage of that in the East.
Would they win those series 10 out of 10 times? Nope, but to me it's not like they won purely on luck/bounces. Panthers in the first 3 series could turn it on when needed(game 5+ in the Boston series). They would go into a shell to hold onto games but when the other team scored they could wake up again.

They can't do that vs Vegas.

They could bully other teams. They can't bully Vegas.

We are not bad by any means. But we need things to klick more, that others don't have to count on. We got lucky so often against CAR, TOR and BOS - the number of goalposts they hit, the lucky bounces we got (exhibit A Ullmark f***-up behind the net). And in comparison to the other teams, we got fantastic goaltending to their solid play.

Look at the gals VGK scored on us. Perfect execution. We rely too much on broken plys, and they swing in one way or the other. They did in our way through 3 series, now not anymore. We can force it back. But we should be well aware that we did not achieve this by being the overall better team thn the others.