The Vegas Golden Knights Chase Sergei Bobrovsky, Break Matthew Tkachuk And Are Halfway To Lifting Lord Stanley's Cup
The Vegas Golden Knights? Halfway there. The Florida Panthers? Livin' on a prayer.
Thought of making that the headline early in the second period since there didn't appear to be a super-appealing, pure sports-related angle to take on Game 2 of this Stanley Cup Final at that time. Even looked into the history of the classic Bon Jovi number. Didn't quite fit. Jon Bon is a Jersey guy. It's about a struggling working-class couple. Some of the lyrics applied to how the Panthers need to band together going forward. Just felt a little forced. The song was written in response to Reagan's trickle-down economics. Eh.
No but…did end up finding enough of a compelling sportzzzz storyline. Well, at least two. Worry not. Both dealt with how the Golden Knights have imposed their will and basically fractured the minds of arguably Florida's two most important players.
Vegas is basically playing the brand of hockey that helped the Ps stage their Cinderella run, only they're doing it better. Excellent forechecking and complete domination of puck possession. As a result, Florida is scrambling in its own end, desperate to thwart the Golden Knights' attack. Their frenzied efforts to block shots is only creating more traffic in front of a goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky whose confidence is suddenly shaken. Can't say it's going super great for them.
It can't be overstated how well Bob was playing entering this series. Thirty-four years young. Best hockey of his life. Amazing story. Numbers do not lie, though. The stark contrast between how the Panthers netminder has fared in Sin City compared to the rest of these playoffs is mind-boggling.
To be fair to the poor guy, Vegas has more or less broken every goalie they've come across this postseason. Bobrovsky is merely the latest victim.
Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck is a three-time Vezina Trophy finalist in recent years. AKA the annual award that goes to the NHL's best goalie. During the 2022 playoffs, the Stars' Jake Oettinger logged a 1.82 GAA and .954 SV%. Got no support as Dallas lost in seven games in the opening round. I wouldn't call Stuart Skinner of the Oilers a world-beater like those two studs, yet the Golden Knights had to keep pace with Edmonton's insane offense spearheaded by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. No freaking problem there.
…And now Bobrovsky. Only nine saves and four goals conceded on Monday. The Golden Knights are unfazed by the stage of the Stanley Cup, whereas the lights seem a bit bright for their outmatched adversary. Simple yet effective analysis here by our guy Ryan Whitney:
Home cooking may be what Bobrovsky and the Panthers need to get their heads right. Or so they must hope. You can't write them off yet. I assumed they'd follow suit with the Heat and steal Game 2 to send the series back for Florida tied at one. Instead, they got rolled off the ice as if they were being crushed beneath the Zamboni.
About all Panthers fans had to cheer about in Game 2 was Rat King Matthew Tkachuk laying Jack Eichel the fuck out:
…Short-lived "win", that. Eichel returned for the final period and promptly set up Jonathan Marchessault — who opened the scoring at the 7:05 mark in the first on the power play — for his second goal of the night LOL.
I realize Tkachuk wasn't trying to kill Eichel. It did look a little dirty since Eichel was stumbling just before Rat King went in for the kill shot. Seems the hockey gods agreed with me, blessed the Knight with shining divine armor and protected him from injury. Dirty play didn't pay this time around.
Again, not that I thought it was that ill-intended on Tkachuk's part. That's just a cool catchphrase to throw out. "Dirty play doesn't pay." Often not true. Shrug. Onward. Tkachuk had a goal of his own in the third. Instead of showing off that highlight, would like to shout out the Knights' Twitter handler for dead-ing the Panthers on that one:
The only means of scoring Tkachuk has kept the Panthers competitive in is his penchant for misconduct penalties. He picked up two tonight to go with one from Game 1. That's 30 penalty minutes on those infractions alone. SHEESH, man. CHILL.
Kind of a ref show as the Ps picked up 84 PIM to Vegas' 64. The visitors also landed 44 hits to the Knights' 24. Maybe a little less focus on physicality and chippiness, more concern about the scoreboard? IDK. Just a thought.
It'll take another Herculean effort from Florida to make this a series. While they did rally from 3-1 down against the Bruins in the first round, I have my doubts they have enough in the tank for another rally of that magnitude. Catch y'all Thursday for Game 3.