Panthers Get Back on Home Practice Ice Before Game 3

The Florida Panthers are back home, nested in their own beds and looking at the sand, the palm trees and golden beaches.

More importantly, they are practicing in their own building and having some home cooking before Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final Monday night against the Edmonton Oilers.

“It feels great,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said Sunday after practice. “Our fans buzz at home and we love that. It’s really exciting.”

Florida played the Oilers last season in the Stanley Cup Final and went 3-1 on home ice. They really enjoy playing in front of their own fans and listening to almost 19,000 people cheer them on to victory.

“Being in your own bed and a nice home cooked meal,” forward Sam Reinhart said. “Once the puck drops, you might use the crowd a little bit, you might not, for a little extra energy.”

The Panthers have had 12 players score goals at home this postseason. They had 17 different players earn points during that time.

Captain Aleksander Barkov leads the Panthers at home with six points. Evan Rodrigues and Matthew Tkachuk both have five points on the familiar ice in Sunrise.

Of course goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky will go from being pestered in Edmonton with "Sergei! Sergei! chants to that of "Bobby! Bobby! at home.

In his last six playoff starts at the Amerant Bank Arena outside of Fort Lauderdale, Bobrovsky has a 4-2 record with one shutout and a blistering .923 save percentage.

The Oilers are no slouches on the road. After losing the first two road games to the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, they have gone 6-1 in enemy territory through the rest of the playoffs.

Florida coach Paul Maurice said the Panthers are ready to defend their home-ice advantage, which they earned by virtue of their victory in Game 2 in double overtime Friday night.

“We take some beatings,” Maurice said. “We take hits, we get hit. People have a general, pretty strong idea of the game that we play, and they play the same game when they play us. For the guys that play on both teams, you just get used to it.”