Panthers develop ‘chaos’ to enable unheralded players to score key
The Panthers’offense in their blowout 6-1 win over the Maple Leafs in Video game 5 originated from the uncommon suspects.
The objectives did not originate from Sam Reinhart or Aleksander Barkov or Matthew Tkachuk. Instead, five of the six goals originated from players who scored a combined 31 times all season.
“Those are the enjoyable stories for our room when (AJ.) Greer gets one, (Jonah) Gadjovich has one,” Florida coach Paul Maurice stated. “Those guys, they strive, and they do not get on the magazines, right? They’re not the front of it. It’s unique on the bench when those guys score.”
Florida’s first 2 goals originated from defensemen. Aaron Ekblad, who scored three objectives in the routine season, put away a goal after a flurry of activity in front of the web. Dmitry Kulikov, who scored four times during the season, had the 2nd objective, deflecting a shot off Scott Laughton.
The defensemen continued contributing, as Niko Mikkola (who had six regular-season objectives) scored the game’s 4th goal.
“You can see how many guys have scored in our lineup, and it gives a lot of confidence to the group,” protector Gustav Forsling said. “It’s fun to see the D corps score a great deal of goals. … I might have to get one (Friday).”
The forwards participated the action in the second duration. Jesper Boqvist, playing in location of the hurt Evan Rodrigues on the leading line, scored his first profession playoff objective to make it 3-0.
“It was an excellent opportunity for me and obviously, taken pleasure in every second of it,” Boqvist said. “Obviously, it helped having fun with two of the best players on the planet.”
Fourth-line forward A.J. Greer got his first career playoff goal in the third period, extending the result in 5-0. He attributed the Panthers’ depth scoring to the group’s capability to develop “turmoil.”
“The way we play develops a great deal of chaos, creates a lot of turnovers,” Greer said. “That game plan sort of brings an opportunity for every single line to be effective, offensively. You do not need to chase it. You truly just have to do your job, and once the chance comes, you’ve got to finish it off.”
Seventeen players have actually scored for the Panthers in the postseason, which Maurice attributes to the team’s culture. He stated even the players who do not get on the ice every game still feel like important parts of the team.
“The truth that you can proclaim, that they’re all bring into a game a belief– a sensible belief– that they can score due to the fact that they have– in the last 10 games they’ve scored an objective. They feel it. They feel great about where they’re at. You can’t do much for a guy when he does not have that positive sensation.”
But Maurice likewise said that having 17 players score implies there are still a couple of who require to tally their very first playoff objective.
“I’m thinking that we have actually got 26 guys here,” Maurice stated. “So that makes 9 guys that are getting chirped quite difficult every day.”
Originally Released: May 15, 2025 at 2:33 PM EDT