NHL Morning Skate: Stanley Cup Final Edition – June 9, 2023

June 9, 2023

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* The players who led the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final rose to the occasion in Game 3 as Matthew Tkachuk scored a late tying goal and Carter Verhaeghe netted an overtime winner to make the most of a 25-save performance by Sergei Bobrovsky and overcome yet another standout showing by Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault.

* The late rally allowed the Panthers to claim their first-ever win in the Stanley Cup Final, doing so in the first such contest played at FLA Live Arena. It came exactly 27 years after the state of Florida hosted the Final for the first time (Game 3 of 1996 SCF was played at Miami Arena).

* Florida’s victory came in the 24th overtime game of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs and marked the fifth straight year that the Final has required at least one OT contest – tied for the longest such stretch in League history.

PANTHERS CLAW BACK INTO FINAL WITH ANOTHER OT WIN

Trailing 2-1 with less than three minutes to play in Game 3, and with a 3-0 series deficit looming, the Panthers pulled goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in favor of an extra attacker and capitalized when Matthew Tkachuk (1-1—2) scored his second goal of the series to force the first overtime game of the 2023 Final. In the extra frame, Carter Verhaeghe (1-1—2) provided yet another overtime winner – the fourth of his career – to give the Panthers their first-ever win in the Stanley Cup Final.

* The “Comeback Cats” have made a habit of late-game heroics this postseason. Their run to the Final was made possible thanks to late goals in back-to-back games during the First Round against Boston, by Eetu Luostarinen in Game 6 (go-ahead goal at 14:22 of 3rd) and Brandon Montour in Game 7 (tying goal at 19:00 of 3rd), along with Tkachuk’s series-clinching goal with 4.9 seconds left in the third period of Game 4 in the Conference Finals.

* Tkachuk (17:47) became the third player in franchise playoff history to score a tying goal in the final three minutes of regulation, following Brandon Montour (19:00 in Game 7 of 2023 R1 at BOS) and Sam Reinhart (17:56 in Game 4 of 2022 R1 at WSH). Tkachuk, who moved into a share of the League lead with 24 points this postseason, has the most playoff points by a player in his first season with a club since Marian Hossa in 2007-08 with Pittsburgh.

* Verhaeghe, whose other overtime winners came in Game 7 of the 2023 First Round as well as Games 4 and 6 of the 2022 First Round, became the 22nd player with at least four career playoff overtime goals.

* Verhaeghe is the only player in NHL history to score multiple overtime goals in consecutive postseasons and one of three to have two in multiple playoff years at any point in his career, following Joe Sakic (2 in 1996 & 2004) and Esa Tikkanen (2 in 1991 & 1997).

* The Panthers improved to 7-0 in overtime during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs (2-0 at home), becoming the fifth club in NHL history to secure at least seven overtime wins in one playoff year. Head coach Paul Maurice has guided two of the clubs on that list (also 2002 Hurricanes: 7-2).

* Maurice improved to 23-7 in playoff overtime, tying Darryl Sutter (23-20) for the fifth-most career playoff OT wins by a head coach in NHL history behind Joel Quenneville (35-24), Dick Irvin (28-23), Al Arbour (27-10) and Scotty Bowman (26-27). Maurice (.767) has the highest playoff overtime winning percentage in NHL history among head coaches (min. 10 OT GC).

* Florida became the third team to claim at least seven consecutive overtime wins in a postseason, following the 1993 Canadiens (10-0) and 2003 Ducks (7-0). Florida and Anaheim are the only clubs to win each of their first seven OT games in one postseason.

MONTOUR CONTINUES EVENTFUL MONTH WITH FIRST FINAL GOAL AT FLA LIVE ARENA

Since June 1, Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour (7-3—10 in 19 GP) has made his Stanley Cup Final debut in Las Vegas, celebrated the birth of his first child less than 24 hours later in Boca Raton and scored the first-ever Stanley Cup Final goal at FLA Live Arena – doing so just 4:08 into Game 3.

* Montour’s seventh goal of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs was his 10th point of the postseason which established a franchise record for points in a playoff year by a defenseman, breaking a tie with Ed Jovanovski (1-8—9 in 22 GP in 1996). Montour is one of six players in franchise history, regardless of position, to score seven goals in one postseason (with four of those occurrences coming this year).

* Game 3 was the third time Montour scored the 1-0 goal in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, tied for the most such goals by a defenseman in one postseason over the past 20 years.

THE CUP WILL NOT BE IN THE BUILDING SATURDAY

The Panthers improved to 5-1-0 at home against the Golden Knights (including regular season) to ensure the series will shift back to Las Vegas, where Florida has yet to win (0-6-1).

* This is the 24th consecutive Stanley Cup Final dating to 1999 that will require at least five games, with 18 of 23 previous matchups in that span extending to six (11) or seven (7) contests. In total, 76% of best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final series have required five or more games (64 of 84, including 2023).

* The Panthers became the 26th team in NHL history to win Game 3 after facing a 2-0 series deficit in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final and second in as many years, after their cross-state rivals (TBL: 6-2 W in Game 3 of 2022 SCF vs. COL). Thirteen of the 25 previous clubs went on to win Game 4 (52.0%).

* This is the 26th time (and second straight year) that the home team has won each of the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final (under any series format). Thirteen of the previous 25 instances saw that streak extend to four games.

MORE LEAGUE TRENDS CONTINUE

While the trend of road teams winning has yet to carry over into the Stanley Cup Final, others have:

* All but one series in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs has required five or more games (14 of 15). The only playoff years with as many such instances are 1991 (15), 2002 (15), 2016 (15) and 2020 (15).

* This is the fourth postseason in NHL history in which at least 14 series saw at least one overtime game, following 2013 (15), 2014 (14) and 2021 (14).

* There have been 24 overtime games in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the ninth-highest total in a single postseason in NHL history.

MARCHESSAULT FACTORS ON BOTH VEGAS GOALS

Jonathan Marchessault (1-1—2) put up yet another big performance for the Golden Knights, scoring for a third straight game to start the Stanley Cup Final while posting another multi-point outing to extend his point streak to a franchise playoff record eight games.

* Marchessault became the third player in the past 35 years (and 10th in the past 50) to score a goal in each of the first three games of a Stanley Cup Final. He has factored on the team’s first goal in each contest against Florida – the first player to do so in each of the first three games of the Final since 2015 (Andrew Shaw w/ CHI).

* Marchessault became the third NHL player on record to score a power-play goal in three straight Stanley Cup Final games, following Esa Tikkanen (1988 w/ EDM; including suspended game) and Dick Duff (1969 w/ MTL). He sits one power-play goal shy of the most on record by one player in a Stanley Cup Final, while the Golden Knights’ six total are a number outdone in the championship series by only nine teams since 1933-34.

NHL SCOUTING COMBINE CONTINUES IN BUFFALO

Zach Benson, the sixth-ranked North American Skater, is one of the prospects in Buffalo this week for the 2023 NHL Scouting Combine presented by adidas – his hockey path has included finding ice time and hockey camps in stops all across Western Canada while living out of an RV in the summer. His parents own a company that organizes fairs and carnivals, so throughout his childhood the family was always on the move in the summer months. Click here for more on Benson’s story.