Florida Panthers: Lines, Updates, Preview for Stanley Cup Final, Game 5 vs. Edmonton Oilers
Who will play for the Cup on Tuesday night?
After letting a 3-0 first period lead slip through their fingers in Game 4, the Panthers haven’t had much time to stew in it with the quick turnaround to Game 5. Perhaps that is to their benefit.
“Obviously it was a disappointing loss, but the page was turned pretty quick,” Brad Marchand said. “I think this is one of the tightest series you’ll ever see.”
“We don’t dwell on wins; we don’t dwell on losses. We’re in the moment,” said Seth Jones.
Staying in the moment might be the only way both teams can re-set after wild swings in not just each game but in the series. The Panthers have lost consecutive games only once this postseason, and the Oilers haven’t lost more than two in a row at any point. Both teams feel like they could be up 3-1 at this point with the opportunities they missed, and both teams certainly feel like the best is still ahead of them.
One new test for the Panthers will be in goal. Calvin Pickard arguably saved the Oilers season in Game 4 with a masterful relief performance in the second period onward, and he gets the call in Game 5.
“It’s exciting. It’s a good opportunity. It feels like any other game for me,” he said. “I guess you could look at this as the biggest game of my life, but the last game was also the biggest game of my life.”
The Stanley Cup will be in the building on Tuesday in Sunrise, and the question for Game 5 is who will be able to get their hands on it with a win tonight.
THE NEWS
Sergei Bobrovsky will start in net for the Panthers tonight.
Tonight’s game will start at 8:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted nationally on TNT and TruTV and can be streamed on Max.
Catch the Florida Panthers pre-game show on Scripps Sports with Jessica Blaylock, Ed Jovanovski, Randy Moller and Katie Engleson 30 minutes before puck drop.
For more information on how to find Scripps Sports, visit nhl.com/panthers/info/how-to-watch.
FLORIDA PANTHERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Evan Rodrigues — Aleksander Barkov —Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Brad Marchand
A.J Greer — Tomas Nosek — Jonah Gadjovich
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt — Dimitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Jaycob Megna, Mackie Samoskevich, Uvis Balinskis, Jesper Boqvist, Nico Sturm
EDMONTON OILERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Connor McDavid — Connor Brown
Vasily Podkolzin — Leon Draisaitl — Corey Perry
Jeff Skinner — Adam Henrique — Trent Frederic
Evander Kane — Mattias Janmark — Viktor Arvidsson
Mattias Ekholm — Evan Bouchard
Brett Kulak — Jake Walman
Darnell Nurse — Troy Stetcher
Calvin Pickard
Stuart Skinner
Scratched: Kasperi Kapanen, John Klingberg
Injured: Zach Hyman (Out, UBI), Alec Regula (IR)
Oilers Lines Courtesy of DailyFaceOff.com
*Opposing team lines subject to change.