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"It's both sides of the puck, equally
weighted," Maurice said of prepping for Game 1 with Edmonton on
Saturday. "Their defensive analytics are almost as good as ours.
... You have to defend against the whole group, active back end
and superstars up front."
Edmonton last won the Stanley Cup in 1990. Florida, the Cup
runner-up to Vegas last year, can become the first team that
lost the Stanley Cup Final to win the next year since the
Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009.
They'll lean on two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky
in net and a trapping defense to contain two top scorers and a
sizzling Edmonton power play.
"With those guys especially, two of the best players in the
world, they've shown it their whole career," Panthers defenseman
Brandon Montour said. "Those are two players you can't
necessarily shut down, but you can limit. ... We've got to make
it tough on them. It's going to be a long series."
There are plenty of experience advantages for Florida. Bobrovsky
is starting his 82nd playoff game on Saturday.
McDavid leads the NHL with 31 playoff points and Draisaitl is
second with 28.
At age 27, McDavid is a three-time league MVP and since entering
the NHL, he owns 982 points, 335 goals and five Art Ross
Trophies as the league's top point-scorer in nine seasons.
But he's playing for the Stanley Cup for the first time. That's
also true of first-year coach Kris Knoblauch.
"This was always part of the plan, to be in this moment. To put
ourselves in this position was always a possibility and it feels
good to have done that," McDavid said.
--Field Level Media [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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