from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,
The Florida Panthers are trying to be tough. The Vegas Golden Knights actually are.
The Stanley Cup finalists were opposites on Monday, and not because the Knights ventilated Conn Smythe Trophy candidate Sergei Bobrovsky in a decisive (and easy) 7-2 victory that gave Vegas a 2-0 series lead in the National Hockey League championship.
For all the overt and cosmetic displays of “toughness” by the Panthers, who revel in their reputation as shift-disturbers, it’s the steady, unbending Knights who appear through two lopsided wins to have the nerve and fortitude that reflect genuine toughness.
Discipline is toughness. Only one team has it.
The Panthers were so tough they were soft in Game 2. They took two silly penalties early that led to a deficit and displayed little actual resistance around their own net.
Below, Michael Russo of The Athletic on the Panthers and watch the game highlights.
Vegas is outclassing and outplaying FLA in every possible way. Florida is trying too hard to look a certain part instead of playing the game, and it's not working. Vegas on the other hand looks like a team who knows exactly what their task is, how to accomplish it, and how to not get distracted.
Tkachuk is one of those guys who needs momentum to be effective, and the team has none of that right now so he's just looking even more so like a petulant child.
Florida is making Vegas easy to root for.
You're not in trouble til you lose a game at home.
I think it was Crosby who said, the hardest game to play after a long layoff is the 2nd, because your body isn't used to the quick recovery and turnaround. Florida looks like they need to get their timing back, Bob most of all. If they find that on Thurs, this series will look a whole lot different.
Remember Vancouver after 2 games in 2011? This is a long way from over.
Van/Bos was at least competitive the first two games; 0-1 and 2-3 in OT. These first two games have been blowouts and haven't even been competitive other than at the first faceoff.
I imagine FLA has to win a game or two, but I also wouldn't be surprised if Vegas swept this series.
I wouldn't be surprised if Vegas sweeps, either. My point, mostly, is that Vegas held serve. They did so in impressive fashion, but that's all they did.
I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed Goonass getting knock on his ass hard. He deserves a thousand more of those types of hits along with his cheap shot buddy Tkachuk.
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