(Las Vegas) On Saturday night in the Vegas Golden Knights locker room, Jonathan Marchessault referred to “bullshit” and “bullshit” to describe the Florida Panthers’ game in general, and it sure did react on this small Sunday morning around here.
One would have expected a light and playful training in the camp of the Panthers, especially in this arena in the suburbs of Las Vegas, where everyone breathes the joy of life and where the birds sing.
But it was not so light.
First, Panthers players understand very well that all that pecking after the whistle is a double-edged sword; it can provoke the opponent, but also, it can too often lead to the penalty box. And that, as we have already established, is not good.
Then, as in life in general, the importance of tidy discipline cannot be underestimated, especially not here, and nowhere else either.
“You have to try to play energetic hockey without falling over to the other side, in the territory of indiscipline,” said forward Sam Reinhart. The Golden Knights, when they have a lead, it’s very difficult to close the gap. They are looking to play with a lead. »
Sitting right next to it on the small platform, Anthony Duclair nodded.
“The Golden Knights are very good on the power play, and if you find yourself four against five too often, they will make you pay for it, explained the Quebec forward. Especially on the road, you have to show discipline. We need to work more with our legs and less with the stick…”
There has also been a lot of talk about sticks since the start of this final, and not just to score goals. It is rather all this rififi after the whistle which makes people talk, hence the comments of Marchessault, who perhaps did not appreciate this baseness so much, and especially not at the end of the match, when the outcome of this meeting was already no longer in doubt.
And then, by the way, where is this limit, exactly? Great question, but judging by what we saw on Saturday night, the next game in this series, the second, which will be featured here on Monday night, will also not be a tribute to the greatest performances of Hanyu Yuzuru.
“It will be a central point to be able to avoid the penalty bench”, however repeated Sam Reinhart, to whoever would listen.
The Florida club were coming back from a long 10-day break before the first face-off in this final, but still, their journey before getting here was anything but a day at the beach: series in seven in the first round against the Boston Bruins, then a series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, then the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final, a brief but certainly not easy encounter.
And now this, a final that begins in the desert, facing an opponent who is transported by the noisy crowd of a noisy arena, perhaps the loudest in the entire league, if we are to believe what several players tell us here.
But Anthony Duclair is not worried.
“Every round since the start of the playoffs, we’ve learned something,” he added. We saw how we were able to come back in the series against Boston, we learned against Toronto as well. It will help us now. »
