3 things the Vegas Golden Knights should learn from the Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers, last season's opponents for the Vegas Golden Knights, are your new Stanley Cup champs. What can Vegas learn from them?
Congratulations to the Florida Panthers on winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Last season's opponents for the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1, on Monday to clinch the Stanley Cup Final. Although Connor McDavid won the Conn Smythe trophy (as expected), Florida finished the job and kept the most lucrative prize in sports in the United States.
As for the Edmonton Oilers, they made the Stanley Cup playoffs interesting until the last minute. Coming back from a 3-0 deficit isn't easy, especially in the championship round. However, McDavid and company roared back in the series before their superstar went cold in the last two games. Kudos to Edmonton for making it close near the end.
As for Panthers fans, they were losing their minds at the thought of blowing such a lead. With Sergei Bobrovsky falling out of the Conn Smythe race and off a cliff, how could the team respond? Add in a dysfunctional power play and fans had a reason to panic.
But enough about this season since it's officially over. The Florida Panthers will receive the Stanley Cup from the Vegas Golden Knights as the new champions. The Stanley Cup Final is now in the rearview mirror and the NHL Draft is on deck. Get ready for a wave of mock drafts and speculation. Next season is just around the corner.
However, there are some lessons to be learned by Vegas. The new champions provided a blueprint for last season's champions on how to win back Lord Stanley. Here are some key points for the Golden Knights to learn to get another title.
Continuing to put pressure on the opponent
One issue the Vegas Golden Knights in their series against the Dallas Stars was offensive pressure. Often, they couldn't push the puck past the neutral zone, leaving Dallas to overwhelm them with scoring opportunities. Eventually, it cracked the Golden Knights and left them without any offense.
In that series, the Stars were expected to score more goals than intended, with 17.73 expected goals and an expected goals percentage of 58.56% throughout the series. Compare that to Vegas, who had 12.55 expected goals. Pete DeBoer prides himself on putting pressure on his opponents offensively, which he did well against Vegas. The series was much more lopsided than what the score sheet says, with Dallas imposing their will early and often.
That's exactly what the Florida Panthers did in game seven of the Stanley Cup Final, controlling the pace of play. They took McDavid out of the equation and pressured Edmonton constantly. The Golden Knights must return to imposing their style on their opponents, controlling the neutral zone and pressuring opponents on the forecheck.
Consistency in the Stanley Cup playoffs
One thing the Vegas Golden Knights can learn not to do is be inconsistent. There's no reason for a team to blow a 3-0 lead and have the Stanley Cup Final go seven games. While the Florida Panthers were fortunate to win the final game, being on point with every aspect proves to be more successful in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
That starts with Sergei Bobrovsky, where he had a GAA of 4.00 between games four and six. He was pulled in the fourth game after a disastrous performance. While Vegas hasn't had such problems in the past two playoff campaigns with goaltending, the offense could take note of being consistent.
That goes back to the first round, where they couldn't get out of the neutral zone often. As a result, they averaged 2.29 goals a game against the Dallas Stars. If the Vegas Golden Knights want to come back to the Stanley Cup Final, being offensively consistent is a good start. That could also apply to being healthy. However, injuries are a crapshoot, where teams can simply hope for the best.
The Vegas Golden Knights must add forward depth
With five forwards becoming unrestricted free agents, the Vegas Golden Knights must look at bolstering positional depth. There are numerous avenues to doing this, including the NHL Draft and free agency. Even promoting specific players and giving them more important roles can fill the void.
The Florida Panthers went through the Stanley Cup playoffs carrying solid scoring forwards on every line. It didn't matter if it was the duo of Matthew Tkachuk (26 goals, 88 points) and Sam Reinhart (57 goals, 94 points) on the first line or Vladimir Tarasenko (six goals and 14 points in 19 games) taking a third-line gig. All that mattered was that Florida got the necessary production from their playmakers. That's how they got their first Stanley Cup.
Granted, it wasn't always pretty. Their power play stalled in the Stanley Cup Final, with only an Evan Rodrigues power play goal to show. On top of that, the Edmonton Oilers had more short-handed goals heading into game seven, scoring two (one from former Vegas Golden Knights player, Mattias Janmark).
However, it's how Vegas won their first Stanley Cup last season. The three-headed monster of Jonathan Marchessault, Jack Eichel, and Mark Stone led the way for Vegas. In turn, it led to them cracking open Florida in the championship round with different forwards scoring. Rediscovering that depth during the offseason will bring Lord Stanley back to Las Vegas.
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