from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,
Guys who play for themselves don’t last long in hockey.
They certainly don’t survive in the National Hockey League, where one of the core tenets, fundamental to the entire enterprise, is that you must put the team ahead of yourself. You have something truly special when players willingly put teammates ahead of themselves.
The Vegas Golden Knights moved one win away from the Stanley Cup when they beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 here Saturday to go up 3-1 in the NHL’s championship. There isn’t anyone on the deep, even, talented Vegas team playing for himself.
But Chandler Stephenson carries just a little extra in his heart.
The 29-year-old from Saskatoon won a Stanley Cup in 2018 – against Vegas in the Golden Knights’ incredible inaugural season – as an important depth forward with the Washington Capitals. Tuesday, in Game 5 in Las Vegas, he’ll have a chance to win another as a front-line centre with the Knights.
Powerful and explosive, Stephenson scored the first two goals on Saturday, one on a breakaway as he burst through an opening created by Panther Aaron Ekblad’s bad line change, the second on a quick and heavy one-timer from linemate Mark Stone’s pass.
WIn both playoff runs, Stephenson has carried with him some of his big brother, Colton, who had to quit hockey in junior due to a series of concussions, and never had a chance to build the professional career that Chandler has chiselled.
from Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com,
For the Florida Panthers, this feels all too familiar.
Down 3-1 in a best-of-7 series? Heading back out on the road after a Game 4 loss at FLA Live Arena? Facing a superior team, standings-wise, ready to finish them off for a tidy series win?
Yeah, we've seen this before.
This was, of course, exactly where things stood seven weeks ago, when the Panthers heard the buzzer sound at the end of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round.
And it's where it stands again after a 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. The Golden Knights are now one win from lifting the Stanley Cup, which they could do as soon as Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, CBC, TVAS, SN).
But don't expect it to be that easy.
"The confidence is there," Florida defenseman Brandon Montour said. "It's nice that obviously we did it before, so the belief's got to be there. That's the only way out of this. Obviously, we're in a hole, but I like our chances to get back.
"We've got a fight in this group and guys are desperate to win these next ones."
continued
from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,
Matthew Tkachuk is the Florida Panthers, and the Florida Panthers are Matthew Tkachuk.
Not only is the spunky, scrappy, last-minute-scoring, overtime-delivering Hart Trophy finalist the heartbeat of an 8-seed hockey team that has blended clutch with punch during their odds-defying run to the Stanley Cup Final.
But he is also hobbled and hurting.
He is pushing through pain.
He is running out of gas and magic and appears to, finally, be staring at a mountain too steep to climb: winning three straight, including two on the road, against a deep and determined Vegas Golden Knights squad dead-set on finishing the job.
Not that Tkachuk or any Panther, for that matter will give you that Saturday night, following Game 4s 3-2 loss at FLA Live Arena.
Why would he? You dont come this far to surrender....
Tkachuk is dealing with a suspected arm injury after getting trucked in open ice by Keegan Kolesar in Game 3. Though he certainly wont discuss the injury until the Stanley Cup is awarded, potentially as soon as Tuesday night on the Strip.
read on
Chandler seems like a guy who is a very valuable hockey player who (to us East Coasters) flies under the radar screen, as their game in Vegas are on so late. Reminds me of Wayne Merrick during the Isles glory days. the Knights have really impressed me. FLA is a pretty damned good team too. Looking forward to Game 5.
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