‘We are excited about the challenge’: Panthers confident ahead of Game 4 vs. Rangers

FORT LAUDERDALE — The message in the Panthers room ahead of Game 4 is consistent with what they’ve done all postseason  — play their game.

Sunday afternoon’s loss was no doubt a gut-wrenching one for the Panthers, as they fell 2-1 in the series after losing consecutive games in overtime. 

After overcoming a two-goal deficit in the third period to force overtime in Game 3, the Panthers looked the more dominant force. 

Despite holding an overwhelming 108-43 shot attempts advantage over the Rangers on Sunday, the final bounce fell in favor of the road team and now the Panthers trail in a series for the first time since Game 1 of the second round. 

The Game 3 defeat was not a usual one for the Panthers. The chances created discrepancy was huge, but it was a rare night where more than two goals found the back of Sergei Bobrovsky’s net. 

“I don’t think that’s the story in the game. Seven of our last eight we’ve given up two [goals] or less. That’s who we are, that’s what we do,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said on Tuesday. “We put up a lot of shot attempts, good for us, that was an addition. Gave up five goals, so we don’t like that, but we gave up 44 shot attempts, so we didn’t abandon the game defensively.”

A Game 4 loss won’t be the end of Florida’s season, but it will put them in a less than ideal situation, facing elimination on Thursday night in New York. 

Knowing what’s at stake on Tuesday, the Panthers were their normal, loose selves at morning skate.

“I think we all know the situation we are in and I think we are excited about it,” said Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov. “We are excited about the challenge. We know our game plan, we know what we need to do, we just need to go out and execute.”

At various points throughout the season, Maurice has pointed out how he doesn’t have to say much to his guys throughout the game to get them going. 

His team is keeping the status quo and it appears they once again won’t not need much encouragement for the task at hand.

“We had the normal meetings (today) and we got a plan for this game, that’s about it,” Niko Mikkola said.

While nothing has been confirmed, the Panthers may once again change up their fourth line for Game 4. At Tuesday’s morning skate, Kyle Okposo and Steven Lorentz replaced Ryan Lomberg and Nick Cousins during line rushes. 

Maurice said “it may be one, it might be both,” when speaking about the possibility of Okposo and Lorentz coming into the lineup. 

“Some of its health, some of it is we think they look different. There’s a different kind of offensive zone thing that both guys do,” Maurice said about Lorentz and Okposo. “It is not a tipping point and it’s not the thing to put your team over the edge, the energy, that excitement. Sometimes you put the new players in and they get pretty fired up and give you a good boost.”

Based off line rushes in warmups, this is how the Panthers could line up tonight. 

Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart

Rodrigues-Bennett-Tkachuk

Luostarinen-Lundell-Tarasenko

Lorentz-Stenlund-Okposo

Forsling-Ekblad

Mikkola-Montour

Ekman-Larsson-Kulikov

Bobrovsky 

Stolarz

Puck drop is 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 28, from Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.