SUNRISE, Fla. – Florida Panthers fans were excited and ready to go Saturday night as the team is hoping to tie up the series at 2 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Local 10 News spoke with fans inside of Pantherland, the Panthers team store outside of FLA Arena, who showed up early to grab some Cats gear before the game.
All of the fans Local 10 spoke to said they were feeling confident heading into Saturday’s game.
“I think they came out in Game 3 completely different than in Games 1 and 2,” said Panthers fan Anthony Catalano. “They got back to the forechecking and doing what they do best so if they stick to that they have a great chance of winning tonight.”
Other Panthers fans like Mike Bracciale said he predicts a higher-scoring game on Saturday.
“Last game was pretty low scoring before that was high scoring, so I think it’s going to come back up and we’re in for a good one,” he said.
“I think we’ve proved a lot this year and I feel like we’ve just got to keep grinding, we’ve got this,” said Panthers fan Nick Pompile.
Florida will look to build off of winning Game 3 in overtime after Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winning goal with 4:27 into overtime.
The overtime winner once again gave credence to their nickname, the “Cardiac Cats.”
“The energy was crazy and it was a wild time--the best time to be a Florida sports fan,” said Catalano.
“With the record they had coming off of this season, not many people if any thought we were going to make it this far, but the fact that we did just shows how resilient and how we are persevering through anything they can throw at us,” said Panthers fan Shannon Kletsel.
Panthers fan Craig Thompson, of Canada, told Local 10 News that he predicts the team won’t lose another game for the rest of the series.
“I’m hoping tonight we win, and we win in Vegas, and it’s Panthers in 6. You heard it here first--Panthers in 6,” he said.
Game 4 is Saturday night at 8 p.m. at FLA Live Arena.
Viewers can catch all of the Florida Panthers pregame and postgame coverage on Local 10.
To listen to more of Maurice’s interview, watch the video at the top of the page.