The Florida Panthers shocked the world when they eliminated the Boston Bruins in 7 games in Round 1. Now, they hold a 1-0 series lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Round 2 and have effectively stolen home ice away from the Buds in the process.
The Panthers were not the better team for a lot of the night, but when you finish with more goals than the other guy, none of the other stats really matter all that much in the grand scheme of things.
During the 2nd period of last night's 4-2 loss to the Panthers, William Nylander actually had a golden opportunity to tie the game at 2 goals apiece. Unfortunately, poor decision-making led to a Grade A chance reverting to a low percentage chance.
The play occurred with just over 5 and a half minutes remaining in the middle frame, with the Buds down 2-1. Nylander had an abundance of time and space after winning a race for a loose puck. When he got to the puck, Nylander slammed on the breaks, showing excellent edge work, curling back and causing the Florida defender to lose his footing and wiping out. However, instead of driving the net and using his elite hands to put one past Sergei Bobrovsky 1-on-1, Nylander chose to carry the puck out into the high slot, allowing several Panthers players to get back into position, passing it off and forcing a low percentage shot.
I'll bet that if you give Nylander this same opportunity 10 times, he probably drives the net during 9 of them. This could just be a simple lapse in judgement. Still, in a game that close - especially down a goal - you'd like to see a player with as much skill as Nylander has taking the puck TO the net, rather than carrying it AWAY from the net.
