Panthers’ mental fortitude paying dividends in Stanley Cup Final

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- It’s not that the plan is for the Florida Panthers to take until Game 7 in every series. They would have gladly taken a shorter run in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, given that they went up 3-0 against the Edmonton Oilers, for instance.

It’s that they’re prepared for seven games.

The same idea goes for overtime.

“Every game is one game, every shift is one shift, and you’re just trying to win your shift, physically, mentally, emotionally,” Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “We talk about a Game 7 mindset, it’s just a shift-by-shift mindset of trying to wear down the other team."

And overtime?

“It’s just another shift,” Ekblad said. “You have to go out and you have to try and wear down your opponent, every shift. Overtime, third period, first period, second period, it doesn’t matter. We play the exact same way all the way through.”

They’re prepared. They’re ready. It fits their mentality, their structure, their ability to take a punch and bounce back, their sense of who they are as a team.

Both Game 1 and Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Panthers and Oilers have gone to overtime, one extra session in Game 1, won by the Oilers, two extras in Game 2, won by the Panthers. So it stands to reason in a series as evenly matched as this one that there might just be another overtime or two in the remaining games of the series.

That could happen as soon as Game 3 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Monday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC), with the best-of-7 series tied 1-1.

“I think the biggest thing is going into the game, just know that it’s going to be a long one,” Panthers forward Brad Marchand said. “You’re prepared for it to go down to the last second and the way things are going, probably go into overtime.”

Game 1 ended at 19:29 of overtime, on a Leon Draisaitl goal, for a 4-3 Oilers win.

Game 2 ended at 8:05 of the second overtime, on a Marchand goal, for a 5-4 Panthers win.

“It’s just being mentally prepared that it doesn’t matter what goes on on the ice, either team is in it all the way to the end,” Marchand said. “You saw it again last game. It’s just understanding mentally that nothing’s going to be easy. You have to be really dialed in because one mistake is enough to cost you a game.”

And one game is enough to cost you a series.

They came close to that in Game 2, in which they were up 4-3 in the third period, only for Oilers forward Corey Perry to score with 18 seconds remaining in regulation, sending the game into overtime. Some teams would have crumbled.

Not the Panthers, who have shown the ability to bounce back. So, instead of whimpering into a 2-0 series deficit, they came back for the double-overtime win.

“You can tell teams are trying to be a little more careful in how you’re playing, you just don’t want to make mistakes,” Marchand said. “That’s where structure comes into play, when you get tired, when you get fatigued, your structure is the most important thing. Once you get away from that, that’s when mistakes happen and odd-man rushes and guys get out of position and stuff like that. The better structurally you are, the better chance you’re going to have to at least prolong the game.”

Part of the reason that the Panthers are prepared for Game 7s, which they have played in three times in the past three seasons (Eastern Conference First Round vs. Boston Bruins in 2023, Stanley Cup Final vs. Oilers in 2024 and second round vs. Toronto Maple Leafs in 2025), is their fitness, both physical and mental.

That fitness enables them to stick to that structure, to stick to their game plan, especially when the stakes get ever higher and their structure becomes paramount.

“That’s really a mindset we try and have,” forward Sam Reinhart said. “We’re trying to play Game 1 just like we would play Game 7. It’s that simple structure, doing things the same way, being on top of pucks, defending first and that’s leading to our offense.

“Everyone gets tighter when you’re closer to the end and it’s just a fact. We feel that our structure is going to benefit us. It’s simple, right from the start. So when games get tighter, we feel like we’ve got that to fall back on. And it tends to be goals like that when there’s a breakdown, so the tighter you can keep it, the better off you’ll be later on in the game.”