What the Panthers need to do differently in Game 2

The Florida Panthers didn’t have the start they wanted against the Edmonton Oilers, blowing a lead going into the third period for the first time all playoffs, and then losing in overtime. It’s not a performance that they’d like to repeat, so what adjustments need to be made going into Game 2 on Friday?

Steve Peters joined Daily Faceoff Live to talk about what the Panthers needed to change in their game going into Game 2.

Steve Peters: The first thing I talked about is the Panthers got to find a way to generate more offense.

The defense for the Edmonton Oilers’ has taken a step over what we saw last year, and for me it starts with the defense of the Florida Panthers. They got eight shots on goal out of 27 attempts. That’s 30% of the shots. Conversely, you look at the Edmonton Oilers get 21 of 42 shots through from their defense. And that’s a huge difference. I think the Florida Panthers need to find the way to generate. I think it’s going to start from the defense.

So how do they do that? They need to move the puck quickly D to D. The Florida Panthers usually go low to high, and then they shoot. I think the Oilers are getting to those lanes, and they’re blocking those shots. So look for the Florida Panthers to go D to D, or you’re going to have to pull the puck off the wall to try to get those shots in the middle, because Florida generates from shots and then traffic rebounds tips. They didn’t do that against the Edmonton Oilers. That’s not the way they were able to generate offensive opportunities in Game 1. So I think they need to find offense.

And just what I said about their ability to give the Edmonton Oilers a little more space in the neutral zone. They’re going to have to tighten up in the defensive zone. And I think what that means for me is, they gave up so many shots, more shots than they’ve given up the entire playoffs.

I would expect to find the Florida Panthers, and it’s “hey, this is a game on”. We wanted to back off a little bit of Draisaitl and McDavid, because we don’t want to attack them because we’ll look silly. But I do think the Florida Panthers do need to take another step back to what they were doing more aggressively in their defensive zone to limit those scoring opportunities. They cannot give up 90 shot attempts again against the Edmonton Oilers. So I think you’re going to see more aggressive play in their defensive zone.

And as always when 29 and 97 are on the ice, and they’re on the ice all the time, you need to stay above them. And I thought they did a good job 5-on-5 against McDavid. He was most effective on the powerplay and on that shorthanded chance off of the crossbar. But stay above those two if you keep them off the scoreboard, which is nearly impossible, but if you can, you give your team a better chance.

You can watch the full episode here…