

In reality, I don't think it'll ever truly die. Long story short, pinball's been "on the way out" for as long as I can remember. It was also read its last rites when Williams declared that Star Wars: The Phantom Menace would be its last machine.
PINBALL LIFE PRESERVER FREE
You can reach him and follow him on Instagram and Twitter Sign up for Joe's free weekly Dolphins Pulse Newsletter.When Gottlieb hung up its flippers in 1996, pinball was declared dead then, too. Joe Schad is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post. An inspiring run.īut it's really hard to see it lasting much longer. The Panthers have been as good as any team in the NHL in coming back over the last four years. Florida overcame 3-1 deficit to Boston, but. The Florida Panthers sure looked done, until suddenly, again, they weren't | SchadĪfter the game, Maurice said Florida will spend some time telling stories about the energy level the team brought into Boston when they trailed 3-1 in Round 1, and found a way to win. "You want to be out there playing," Tkachuk said. But nobody, including coach Paul Maurice, could promise anything about Tkachuk's availability moving forward. That Tkachuk is in serious pain is a problem Florida probably can't overcome. "All we can think about is win one and bring it back to Florida."īut at this time, it's really hard to imagine a way in which Florida forces a sixth game, let alone a seventh. And they're big and strong and tough and at times, it seems, impenetrable.

And it's certainly possible Florida has just hit a wall. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a long, long, long battle of attrition. And deeper, especially with injuries to Eetu Luostarinen and Tkachuk and even Anthony Duclair left for a while in this one. Because there was no time left for the comeback Cats to come back again. Rats littered the ice and Tkachuk waved his stick and players pushed and shoved and collapsed to the ice, but none of that mattered.
PINBALL LIFE PRESERVER SERIES
It took a pass from Montour and a goal by Aleksander Barkov - his first of the series - to improbably bring Florida within striking distance of knotting the series at 2.

It took a circus goal by Montour - off a skate, then off an ankle and like a pinball into the Vegas goal - to bring the Panthers back to life. Then William Karlsson made it 3-0 off a rebound and it looked for all the world like Florida was dead in the water again. Then Stephenson was too open in the slot, beating Sergei Bobrovsky glove high. There was a bad change by the Panthers, including Aaron Ekblad. We can see why Vegas was favored and why barring another Bruins-type miracle comeback, they're going to win their first Stanley Cup and prevent Florida from doing the same.Ĭhandler Stephenson scored the first two goals for Vegas. They hit.Īnd they are so darned structurally sound. "Some silly plays," defenseman Brandon Montour said of Florida's defense. The Panthers lost because they fell in a 3-0 hole at home, when they needed to do anything but fall in a 3-0 hole at home, already trailing 2 games to 1 in the Stanley Cup Final. Florida trails Vegas 3-1 in Stanley Cup Final It took a stellar left-pad save by Vegas' Adin Hill on Tkachuk, as time expired, to preserve a 3-2 victory that once again brings the Panthers to the brink of elimination late Saturday evening. Tkachuk rested some and rested some more in the third period and then jumped on the ice when Florida's goaltender was pulled and they needed his heroics one more time. "That's not going to come out right now," Tkachuk said after, when pressed for details. Tkachuk was grimacing and wincing and laboring as an upper-body discomfort that probably began the moment he took a big hit in the previous game set in deeper and deeper. SUNRISE - Matthew Tkachuk was hurting and he was hurting so badly he couldn't play, in what were clearly the biggest moments of the biggest game of his hockey life. View Gallery: Stanley Cup 2023: Best photos from Golden Knights vs.
