The one motive Boqvist was within the lineup was as a result of Sam Reinhart, certainly one of Florida’s different high stars, was not taking part in.
Most groups shedding a participant pretty much as good as Reinhart could be in hassle for a convention ultimate playoff recreation. It by no means even got here near mattering for the Panthers.
Carolina’s Japanese Convention Last nightmare continues
It is simply onerous to understand how a single franchise can hold getting this far within the playoffs, after which hold falling flat on its face when it will get right here.
Saturday’s loss is the fifteenth consecutive Japanese Convention loss for the Carolina Hurricanes franchise going again to the 2009 playoffs.
Even worse, they haven’t even had a lead previously 5 Japanese Convention Last video games.
The shortage of goal-scoring in opposition to elite groups stays an issue for them within the playoffs, however this sequence has launched a brand new drawback — they merely can’t cease the Panthers.
Carolina was one of many NHL’s greatest defensive groups through the common season, and the Panthers are simply going by means of them with little to no resistance.
Florida has scored at the very least 5 targets in every of the primary three video games of the sequence, together with 5 targets within the third interval of Saturday’s recreation alone.
The Hurricanes have one huge flaw (an absence of star energy) that nearly actually lowers their ceiling. However this sequence may merely be extra about Florida being an absolute pressure of a hockey group.
Florida hockey is ruining the thought of parity within the NHL
If Florida can win simply one of many subsequent 4 video games, it will likely be its third consecutive Stanley Cup Last look.
They may have an opportunity to win their second Stanley Cup in a row.
That is noteworthy as a result of the thought of a back-to-back champion within the NHL was virtually fully exceptional for about 20 years within the NHL all through the late Nineties and many of the 2000s and 2010s.
If Florida can pull this off, nevertheless, they would be the third group previously decade to win two in a row — becoming a member of the 2016 and 2017 Pittsburgh Penguins and the 2020 and 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning — and the second group to succeed in three consecutive finals (becoming a member of the Lightning in 2020, 2021 and 2022).
It might additionally imply that the previous six Japanese Convention representatives within the Stanley Cup Last could be both Florida or Tampa Bay.
The thought of parity is likely to be slipping away within the NHL, given all of that.
