Aleksander Barkov has proven in recent years that he is of the caliber of Patrice Bergeron, Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Toews. Now he will have another chance to achieve the main distinction he lacks compared to them.
Barkov and the Florida Panthers won 2-1 over the New York Rangers on Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena to win the East Final in six games.
For a fifth year in a row, the Stanley Cup final will be played in part in Florida. And for a second season in a row, it will be at Sunrise. After the Lightning’s three finals in a row (2020-2022), the Panthers are going there for a second year in a row. Florida will meet the winner of the Edmonton-Dallas series in the final, led 3-2 by the Oilers.
The final will begin next Saturday, in Florida if the Oilers represent the West, in Dallas if the Stars recover and win the Clarence-Campbell Trophy.
Barkov, already winning his second Selke this season, will try to add the Stanley Cup to his repertoire. If he succeeds, he will show a track record comparable to the three aforementioned centers. Bergeron has six Selkes and one Cup, Kopitar has two of each, while Toews has just one Selke but three Stanley Cups. We could add Ryan O’Reilly, holder of a Selke Trophy and a Stanley Cup ring.
PHOTO JIM RASSOL, USA TODAY SPORTS
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov will try to add a Stanley Cup to his trophy collection.
During this Eastern final, Barkov displayed all his defensive talent, notably keeping Artemi Panarin in check. The Rangers striker, author of 49 goals in the season, was invisible offensively, and ended up scoring his first goal of the series 100 seconds from the end of this sixth game.
It’s even worse for Mika Zibanejad, another not-bad hockey player in other circumstances. Zibanejad was the one who faced Barkov the most during this series (49 minutes at 5v5, 70 minutes total, according to Natural Stat Trick). His record: two small assists in six games.
Barkov also had his say in the Rangers’ failures on the power play. The New Yorkers concluded the season with 3e NHL power play, at 26.4%. In the first two playoff rounds, they scored essentially one in three times (31.4%). And against the Panthers, you ask while screaming? One goal on 15 occasions, for a Montreal rate (excuse her) of 6.7%.
The fact that the usually excellent Adam Fox played injured – all signs point to that – probably didn’t help the Rangers’ five-man attack. But Barkov, with his keen sense of anticipation, nevertheless manages to intercept a phenomenal number of potentially dangerous passes, which become clearances or zone exits for his club.
The Panthers obviously thought they had something special when they pulled off a bit of a surprise in the 2013 draft by opting for Barkov at 2e rank. If he leads his team to great honors, he will join the first in class that year, Nathan MacKinnon, with a Stanley Cup ring. In very different styles, they each have arguments to demonstrate that they are the best of this rich 2013 vintage.
A thought for the goalkeeper
Casually, Sergei Bobrovsky is also one of those players who lead the Panthers to the final for a second spring in a row.
We specify this because it has not always been clear that the decision to grant him a 7-year, $70 million agreement, in 2019, was the wisest. In his first two seasons, he barely played for .900 and struggled in the playoffs. But since he signed his contract, he is 2e among NHL goaltenders in games played and goaltending wins, behind fellow Florida rival Andrei Vasilevskiy.
PHOTO JIM RASSOL, USA TODAY SPORTS
Sergei Bobrovsky
The Rangers, for their part, will put away the equipment on the threshold of the final for a second time in three years. In the good news department, they obtained new confirmation that they have one of the best goalies in the NHL; Igor Shesterkin indeed showed an efficiency of .935 during this Eastern final.
They were also able to validate the progress of Alexis Lafrenière. Even if he was not as dominant in the last two games, the 22-year-old Quebecer was, with Vincent Trocheck, the best forward of his team this spring.
Except that even losing two victories from the final, the Rangers will have to ask themselves questions during the off-season, namely how far can they go with their current identity. With the aforementioned breakdowns of Messrs. Panarin and Zibanejad, they finished this series neutral offensively. In the last four games of the series, they have shot an average of 24 times on the opposing goaltender, and allowed 37 shots.
Summer is shaping up to be an interesting one in the Big Apple.