Panthers feeling loose entering Stanley Cup Final against Golden Knights

Florida still embracing role of underdog, 'having fun' in process

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers have taken the concept of being underdogs to an entirely new level.

In a postgame ritual first seen on the new ESPN docuseries "Quest For The Cup," a rawhide dog chew is handed out following a win during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs to the player deemed to have been the hardest worker.

"It rewards an individual for doing something a little extra," forward Ryan Lomberg said. 

And, yes, the recipient actually chews on it. In fact, given how far the Panthers have come the past seven weeks, maybe each player on the team should be given a dog bone to gnaw on. 

Consider this: The Panthers barely even qualified for the playoffs, finishing one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.

How long ago that seems.

And tomorrow, they'll board a plane and head to Las Vegas for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, which will be held at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS).

"We're loose and having a great time," forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "That's what happens when there's no expectations on you."

Except now, there are.

Truth be told, no one is buying the Panthers as underdogs narrative anymore. Not when they've eliminated the NHL's No. 1 (Boston Bruins), No. 2 (Carolina Hurricanes) and No. 4 (Toronto Maple Leafs) seeds to get to this point.

And let's not forget, the Panthers are just one year removed from winning the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL team with the best record in the regular season. It's not like they lack talent. Not in the least.

What they do seem to be lacking is nerves.

Florida is attempting to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in its history. The Panthers only previous appearance in the Final came in 1996, when they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche.

But if in fact they do have butterflies entering their showdown against the Golden Knights, you wouldn't know it by their practices this week at FLA Live Arena. 

The sounds of hooting and laughter were as frequent as the shrills of the coaches' whistles during the various drills. If there is any pressure within their locker room, they are disguising it very well.

"Work your [butts] off and have fun. Those are the basic rules of playing here," coach Paul Maurice said, noting that that has been the team's credo dating to training camp in September.

"It's really hard to get your team to work as hard as they did. They did that on their own. The first five days of camp were hard and they never broke. They didn't quit. It was just hard. And when they came to the rink the next day, yeah, they were dragging a little bit, but they were still telling jokes and laughing. So, we could do that, too, right?

"I think maybe if there's a change I learned over time, it's OK if the players see you having fun too. I would especially say it was not true in my first decade and a half."

It is now.

"There's some funny stuff that happens in that room and even in meetings," Maurice said. "It's pretty funny. And it's OK to laugh, it's OK to be relaxed and laugh because we know those men have earned the right to know they're going to come and play as hard as they can."