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Stanley Cup: Panthers Alive and Well

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SUNRISE – The Florida Panthers are right back in their chase for the Stanley Cup Final after a come from behind, 3-2, overtime victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. However, as much as the Panthers have to celebrate with their comeback win, they still trail the best-of-seven series 2-1 and are aware of the importance of following it up with another victory when they host Game 4 on Saturday.

“That’s a big momentum game for us,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, whose late third-period goal forced overtime, told Sportsnet. “Now we’ve just got to win one more game.”

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unloaded a long shot from just inside the blue line that found the mark at 4:27 of overtime to cap a back-and-forth affair. It was his seventh of the playoffs and his fourth career overtime winner.

“We had to find a way,” said Verhaeghe, who added an assist.

With his team on the verge of falling behind 3-0 in the series, Tkachuk — who missed most of the first period because the concussion spotter pulled him from the game after the forward was on the receiving end of a hard check — scored yet another clutch goal.

Tkachuk buried a loose puck with 2:13 remaining in regulation while goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled for an extra attacker.

“Probably the gutsiest win I’ve ever been a part of,” said Tkachuk, who notched a franchise-record 11th goal of the playoffs and added an assist. “Proud of the team. We’re not done yet.”

Brandon Montour also scored for the Panthers and Bobrovsky made 25 shots in a strong performance. Bobrovsky’s biggest stop came on a third-period attempt from Michael Amadio while Vegas held a 2-1 lead.

The Panthers recorded their first ever Stanley Cup Final win. They were swept in their only other appearance, 1996 against the Colorado Avalanche.

Stanley Cup Finals: Florida at Vegas

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LAS VEGAS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – During a gathering of about 5,000 fans to reveal his new team’s nickname and logo outside T-Mobile Arena in November of 2016, Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley made a rather bold prediction.

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When asked by the emcee how long it would take his expansion franchise to lift the Stanley Cup, Foley replied, “I did say seven years, but it should be six years now. Six years.”

Vegas, which made a storybook run to the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season in 2018 before losing in five games to the Washington Capitals, has one last chance to make Foley look like a prophet.

The Golden Knights face this year’s Cinderella team of the playoffs, the Eastern Conference winning Florida Panthers, in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final beginning tonight in Las Vegas.

Vegas, which missed making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history a year ago, rebounded to post a Western Conference-best 111 points while winning the Pacific Division title. The Golden Knights then disposed of the Winnipeg Jets in five games in Round 1, took down Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in six games in Round 2 and defeated the Dallas Stars in six games in the Western Conference finals.

Florida, which finished tied for just 17th overall in the NHL in points with 92, has won 11 of its last 12 games, including seven in a row by one goal, behind the play of Conn Smythe Trophy frontrunners Matthew Tkachuk (21 points, nine goals, four game-winners) and Sergei Bobrovsky (11-2, .935 save percentage).

The Panthers — back in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996 when they were swept in four games by the Joe Sakic-led Colorado Avalanche — rebounded from a 3-1 deficit to stun the record-setting and top-seeded Boston Bruins in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Florida followed that up with a 4-1 series win over Toronto in Round 2 and swept the Carolina Hurricanes in four games in the Eastern final.

Florida will have had nine days off since their series-clinching 4-3 win over Carolina on May 24 while Vegas has had just a four-day break since their 6-0 clincher at Dallas on Monday. Could the long break cause the Panthers to lose their momentum and be a little rusty heading into Game 1?

“None of the things that you would have normally wanted to have happen has happened to us and they all turned out good, so be careful what you wish for,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “So we’ve just decided not to wish for anything, just take what it is. … It’s a big block of time off and how do you stay sharp, but I would take the rest over worrying about how sharp we’re going to be in Game 1.”

Vegas has relied on a strong defense led by past Stanley Cup winners Alex Pietrangelo (St. Louis) and Alec Martinez (two with Los Angeles). It also has a solid group of veteran forwards that includes William Karlsson (team-high 10 goals), ex-Panther Jonathan Marchessault (nine goals in the last 10 games) and Jack Eichel (18 points, six goals).

Eichel, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, is taking part in the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. He brings a seven-game goal drought into the Final but has impressed with his all-around play.

“It’s a great opportunity for our group,” Eichel said. “Everybody wants a chance to play in a Stanley Cup Final and to compete for the ultimate goal.”

The Golden Knights, who used five different goaltenders because of injuries during the season, have also gotten surprisingly good play from Adin Hill in net. Hill, who took over for injured Laurent Brossoit in Game 3 of the second round against Edmonton, is 7-3 with a .937 save percentage and two shutouts.

“He’s been great,” Marchessault said. “He’s given us a chance to win every night. At (this) time of the year, if you don’t have a good goalie, I don’t think you go through.”

Marchessault was asked about Foley’s prediction of winning a Stanley Cup in six years.

“Bill’s a smart man, right?” Marchessault said with a smile. “He’s done a lot of good things in his life. We’ll see how it turns out.”

–Field Level Media

BU’s Eichel Traded from Sabres to Vegas

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BUFFALO – (Staff and wire service report) – The Jack Eichel era at Boston University ended with a Hobey Baker Award and his rights being selected by the Buffalo Sabres with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Now, Eichel’s career in Buffalo is over because of an eight-month feud which came to a conclusion when the Sabres traded their former captain and face of the franchise to the Vegas Golden Knights.

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The trade ends a stalemate between Eichel and Buffalo over how to repair his herniated disk, which has sidelined him since March. The dispute revolved around the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement giving teams the final say over the treatment of injuries.

Until Eichel was Knighted, surely Boston Bruins, Boston U. and Chelmsford, Massachusetts ice hockey fans hoped for a return to Boston to skate for the Boston Bruins but the $10m a year salary combined with a bad back left the Sabres with a limited number of NHL takers, especially until the results of his back surgery and rehabilitation are known.

Though Eichel remains sidelined, the Golden Knights lived up to their Vegas name and took a gamble to address their biggest long-term need, obtaining a top-notch scorer and first-line -line center, by trading forward Alex Tuch, rookie center Peyton Krebs and two draft picks to the Sabres. Eichel is expected to have the disk replacement surgery he preferred, though the recovery timetable means he’ll likely miss most, if not all, of the remainder of the season.