For Grading: This is my first media article so I would like to use my 2x First Time Bonus


Well there you have it fellow SHL folks... The Los Angeles Panthers are our season 78 champions. It is a well earned win for a team that had an absolutely stellar regular season. While it is a bittersweet ending to the season for me personally since my player, Max Carnage, and the Tampa Bay Barracuda were on the losing end of the Challenge Cup Finals, I have no reservations in saying the Los Angeles Panthers earned their cup victory and I’d like to explain why in the following article.

You might be wondering why I’m doing something of a deep dive into the team that just denied me my first Challenge Cup and here’s a quote by Sun Tzu from The Art of War that might help: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

So with that said, I’d like to shed some light on some of the many strengths of their team that led them to the promised land we all covet and recap the playoff battles they won on their way to the Challenge Cup. And maybe, just maybe, this will give me and any others looking to take them down next season some help in what you need to do to somehow be able to stop them. I’m sure it will also prove to be a fun recap for the Panthers and any neutral SHL fans to read. First let’s talk about how this article is going to be split up.

I’m going to split this article up into a few categories to help due to the article’s length:

• Introduction
  
• Regular Season Team Statistics
  
• Regular Season Individual Performances
  
• Playoff Series overviews
  
• Game recaps
  
• Playoff Team Statistics
  
• Playoff Individual Performances
  
• Conclusion
  

Introduction
The Panthers had the highest regular season point total earning them the President’s trophy in season 78 and eventually beat the second, third and fourth ranked teams on their way to their Challenge Cup victory. Having successfully navigated that gauntlet, no one can claim they had an easy run to the cup. While many teams tend to see a distinct advantage while playing at home vs on the road, Los Angeles had a nearly identical home and away record this season: 25-6-2 at home and 24-6-3 away. While this clearly gave them a boost in pulling away from the other contenders during the regular season in points, it was an absolute advantage for their squad to feel equally potent at home or away during a long and grueling playoff run and is one of the pivotal aspects of their team that helped propel them towards a cup. It’s clearly not the only one as you’ll see shortly but we’ll get more into that in the next section. 

Regular Season Team Statistics
There are a few standout stats that really tell a picture of just how good the Panthers were this season and in this section we’ll cover some of the team statistics during the regular season that helped earn them the President’s trophy and with that, home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

Home and Away record
I’ve already touched briefly on their home and away records a bit but it really is a masterpiece in playing good hockey on any ice. Going back ten seasons, there are very few teams with home and away records that are even close to as even as the Panthers’ records were during season 78. Funny enough, the one that is closest to what the Panthers managed this season was their own home and away records in season 75 in which they had 23 regular time wins on both home and away ice. What you might expect and what you tend to see most often is that teams have a better home record than away. Looking at previous data, it tends to be roughly 15% more wins at home than away. There are obviously some outliers where a team will have more away wins than home wins but that does not typically coincide with cup contenders. Another statistic related to wins and points that paints a very dominant picture for the Panthers regular season is the Point percentage at 78%. In nearly 4 out of 5 games, they were adding to their points either with a win netting two points or a loss in overtime resulting in 1.

Power Play and Penalty Kill
So the Panthers ended the regular season with a 24.3% Power Play and 85.7% Penalty Kill. While these numbers aren’t historically great in either category, they do tell a story about how good Los Angeles was this season on both sides of a numerical advantage or disadvantage. Their Power Play ranked 5th in the league but the teams ranked 3-7 only differed by 0.4%. Their Penalty Kill on the other hand was best in the league and over a full percent higher than the 2nd place Penalty Kill team in Atlanta. Another indicator of just how good these units were is the amount of shorthanded goals for and against. With 27 shorties for and only 8 shorties against, they were once again in the top 3 for each of those categories. So not only were they dangerous on the Power Play but they were very careful to not give up goals when on the advantage and vice versa; on the Penalty Kill, they were stingiest in the league when shorthanded and deadly when they got possession of the puck in those situations.

Goals For and Against
While the Panthers didn’t score the most goals in the league, that accolade belongs to the San Francisco Pride, they did rank second in goals for with 332. Now obviously you can’t win games without scoring goals, but they were also one of the top ranked teams in goals against with 204. Averaging that out over 66 games gives you an average of 5.03 Goals For per game and 3.09 Goals Against per game. Think about that… That’s nearly a 2 goal difference per game at 1.94 goals for more than goals allowed. Imagine having a 2 goal handicap against you at the start of the game. That’s what the Panthers’ opponents were going up against each time they took the ice. The Pride actually had the highest difference with 2.12 and that’s somewhat expected given they were the team with the highest goal differential at +140 but it did not equate to a similar advantage in their case due to their lower efficiency of their Power Play and Penalty Kill.

Puck Possession
Another telling sign of how good the team was as a whole is the amount of giveaways vs takeaways. They were very reliable at keeping control of the puck ranking 7th in giveaways with 592 on the season. Where they truly shined however was their ability to take the puck away from their opponents with 708 takeaways on the season ranking them 3rd in the league. Only Philadelphia was nearly as good in both rankings by managing to be 6th in both giveaways and takeaways.

Regular Season Individual Performances
The forwards for the Panthers were some of the most dangerous in the league in Season 78. Their play by the defense was equally impressive and their goaltending was easily some of the top netminding play in the league.

Derek Martin
In his 8th season in the SHL, Derek Martin excelled with 47 Goals and 61 Assists (108p). He posted his second highest point total of his career during season 78 with these numbers. He also managed 8 shorthanded points on the Penalty Kill (5G, 3A). While +/- isn’t a great statistic for telling you how well his play was throughout the season, a +35 +/- at least tells you he was more often scoring or helping to score goals while on the ice rather than give them up. He also boasted a 3rd highest average time on ice per game on the team, behind only the top defensive pairing for the Panthers. His average time on ice was over a full minute more per game than the next closest forward. This is likely due to his inclusion on both the first Power Play unit and first Penalty Kill unit for the Panthers.

Alexi Piastri
In what may be one of the last top seasons for Alexi before old age finally catches up, he posted a nearly identical season to his center as the right wing on the Panthers top forward line with 47 Goals and 58 assists (104p) in his 9th season in the SHL. It’s also his highest point total of his career.

Oliver Castillon
The youngest gun of the first line in just his 7th SHL season had a much lower point total than his first line brethren but this is likely due to his absence from the first power play unit. Posting 30 Goals and 43 Assists (73p), he tied his highest point total which he posted during season 76 in which he centered the 3rd line and the second power play unit. Given his linemates point totals from the power play, it’s likely he would have had a similar point total had he been used on the first Power Play unit. He did manage to post a whopping and league topping 8 short handed goals and 3 shorthanded assists on the Penalty Kill.

Adam Prpich
Another standout forward from the Panthers regular season is the wiley veteran center Adam Prpich. Centering the third line during the regular season and playing as a wing on the first power play unit, Prpich posted a team leading 122 points with 51 goals and 71 assists. 34 of those points came on their previously mentioned very dangerous Power Play. Adam also had the highest shot percentage of any skater that played a significant amount of games. I mention this because while he did end up in 2nd place among all skaters for shot percentage, Jamie Fraser from Montreal who led that statistic only played in 4 games in which he took 8 shots in total resulting in 2 goals. This clearly skews his stats significantly and it is unlikely he would see that same percentage had he played in all 66 games. Having played in 9 SHL seasons for the Panthers, it seems like he finds a way to make plays with anyone he shares the ice with.

Let’s not forget about some of the defensive standouts for the Panthers as well:

Elena Maximova
In Elena’s 6th season in the SHL, she led the league for all defensemen in assists and points with 52 assists and 67 points and were one of the key reasons they were so deadly on the Penalty Kill by feeding the forwards on shorthanded breakaways by tallying 8 assists throughout the season. She also tacked on 15 Goals, 10 of which came on the Power Play. She also played a key role in stymying opposing offenses by blocking 178 shots. While this didn’t place her in the top 10 in blocked shots for defensemen, combining this with her offensive prowess and 86 hits paints a picture of a defensemen you would love to have on your team.

Rasmus Bergling
A team’s top defensive pair can only be as good as their chemistry allows and Bergling and Maximova seem to complement each other like few other defensive duos in the league. Bergling was also a top point scoring defensemen with 41 Assists and 52 points. Similar to Maximova’s offensive numbers, albeit slightly less, he tallied 11 Goals but again, just like Maximova, 10 of those came on the Power Play. Nearly half of his points came from the Power Play which likely helped propel their first Power Play unit into the top of the league. He also came in 2nd in hits with 89, only 3 more than Maximova which describes a pair of offensive minded defensemen that also weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty and rough up opposing forwards.

And no team can be a contender with a sieve in goal which was clearly not the case for Los Angeles this season:

Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz
In his 8th season, Grzegorz played in nearly 75% of the regular season games for the Panthers with 49 games played. He tied his career record for wins in a season with 36 and posted his lowest Goals against average of his career with 2.82. In allowing only 131 goals in the 49 games he played, his goals against average put him 3rd in the league. One thing to note here is the two goalies above him on the list played significantly fewer games and thus, their sample size of shots against is much lower. He also prevented the opposing team from scoring a single goal on 4 occasions which placed him 3rd in the league in shutouts during the regular season. He posted a .910 save percentage placing him tied for 4th/5th in the league. A last standout statistic I’d like to point out for Grzegorz during the 78 season is his Goals Saved Above Average. If you’re not familiar with this statistic, it gives you a number of how many more or less saves a goalie made compared to the league average. With a 20.49 GSAA, Brzęczyszczykiewicz ended the season in second place. While this statistic shouldn’t be used as an end all be all stat for goalies, in combination with all of the other things I’ve mentioned, it does tell a story of a goalie who had a great season for his team. All in all, season 78 was a stellar one for Brzęczyszczykiewicz in net for the Panthers.

Stun Gun
In net for the remaining roughly 25% of the games is Stun Gun. This was only Stun Gun’s second season in the SHL and one might imagine a goalie with a low TPE total and considerably less experience would be a liability in net and while Stun didn’t post equally impressive stats as Grzegorz, he did manage to put up impressive numbers in net when filling in. Playing in 22 games, Stun Gun came out on top of 13 of them but what adds to the impressiveness of his backup play is the fact that he was able to take some of those games into OT which ended in losses but still gave the Panthers an extra point. In essence, he only accounted for 4 losses of the 22 games he tended the net. He also managed a 3.35 goals against average, which on its own isn’t great, it’s only roughly a half a goal per game more than what their starter averaged. Taking that into account with what we mentioned earlier in that the Panthers averaged over 5 goals a game, you could still expect a win with him in net on any given night assuming the skaters didn’t have below average play. 

These are just a handful of the standout individual performances of the regular season for the Panthers and while I could go on and delve in depth into some of the role players, for the sake of not making this long post even longer, let’s at least give out a few honorable mentions:

Reed Kobo
Kobo posted a solid 76 points on the third line and limited Power Play time with 25 Goals and 51 Assists. He also helped propel their Penalty Kill into points with 5 Goals and 5 Assists shorthanded.

Axel Kirby
Here is an example of a well rounded season for a third line wing with 32 Goals and 37 Assists. Just like Kobo, he was a reason for their shorthanded dominance with 4 Goals and an assist shorthanded.

Playoff Series overviews
So we’ve talked about just how good Los Angeles was during the regular season but how many times have we seen truly dominant teams in the regular season lose a bit of their mojo once the playoffs start and take an early round exit? This obviously wasn’t the case for the Panthers and let’s take a look at their path to their 5th Challenge Cup Victory.

One of the main reasons for their successful run was the continuation of high level play in the playoffs from their top players during the regular season in addition to other players raising their game as the stakes became higher.

In round 1, they met their division rivals in the Seattle Argonauts. This was a lopsided affair that likely left the Argonauts feeling overwhelmed and downtrodden after a 4 game sweep by the Panthers. The Argonauts put up little opposition to the powerhouse Panthers only scoring two goals in 4 games while allowing 25. The only game that could even be described as anything other than a blowout was game 3 in Seattle in which they only allowed 3 goals and scored 1 themselves.  Games 1, 2 and 4 were essentially target practice for the Panthers in which they outscored Seattle 22-1.

Game 1 (Series tied 0-0) 
Here we have an example of two players stepping up with Axel Kirby and Pass Forfeit tallying 4 and 3 points respectively with Derek Martin maintaining his level of play with 2 goals.

Game 2 (LAP leads 1-0)
Kirby again showed up here with 3 points along with Oliver Castillon assisting twice. Oh look at that, another multi goal game by Derek Martin putting the puck in the net twice.

Game 3 (LAP leads 2-0)
The only game in which the Argonauts held the Panthers under 30 shots and outshot them with 35 shots on goal. Unfortunately, home ice was not enough of a help for Seattle and Los Angeles took the game 3-1 with goals by Andren Akerson, Adam Prpich and you guessed it, Derek Martin.

Game 4 (LAP leads 3-0)
This was the crushing blow to any hope the Argonauts had at a comeback in the series. A four goal first period started the carnage with two of them on the Power Play. Two more goals in the second followed by 3 more in the 3rd period put the league on notice that the Panthers hadn’t lost any of their potency from the regular season. All of the goals in this game were scored by players mentioned in the regular season individual performances section. As mentioned previously, it was a continuation of that high level play from the regular season into the playoffs.

In round 2, Los Angeles met yet another division rival. This time it was the second best team in the league in the San Francisco Pride. After a 6 game series with the Calgary Dragons, it wouldn’t be crazy to think the Panthers had a slight advantage heading into the series due to their slightly fresher legs. Let’s see if that was the case as the battle of the two big cats played out. 

Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
The days off for the Panthers seemed to have slowed their momentum a bit and the Pride started off the scoring early in the 1st period just three minutes in with a goal by their top playoff goalscorer, Dominik Winters. By the end of the first, both teams had tacked on another goal to make it 2-1 Pride heading into the second. Oliver Castillon had some of his shorthanded magic 6 minutes into the second with a goal but Logan Webb put the Pride back on top in the 14th minute. The third period turned into a goal scoring frenzy with 6 goals in total but Los Angeles was clearly on the backfoot here having let up two goals in the first 10 minutes and another pair in the second half of the period. The Pride’s offense was too much for the Panthers in game 1 and San Francisco took game 1 with a final score of 7-4. 

Game 2 (SFP leads 1-0)
Hoping to even the series on home ice, the Panthers headed into game 2 with a burning desire to get on the board early and often and that’s just what they did. The first period was all Panthers with 2 goals by Reed Kobo just 1 minute in and Alexi Piastri later in the 17th minute on the Power Play. The second started off even faster with a goal just 47 seconds into the period by Andren Akerson and the 2nd minute by Elena Maximova. The second half of the period saw San Francisco attempt to even things up with three goals within 4 minutes by Dominik Winters, Rowan O’Beirne and Edzus Ozolins but they fell a bit short and Los Angeles led 4-3 heading into the third period. The 3rd period saw a lot of back and forth play and halfway through Derek Martin put the finishing touches on the Panthers first win of the series with a goal on the Power Play. Los Angeles evened up the series on home ice. 

Game 3 (Series tied 1-1)
The third game of the series turned into a hard fought albeit low scoring battle between two of the league’s juggernauts. Low scoring in this case is compared to their season averages of Goals For. The Pride started off the scoring in the first with a goal 5 minutes in by Eggward Elric but Reed Kobo tied it on the last second of the period. Shots were even at 15-15 heading into the second. Derek Martin started off the scoring in the second and Willow Soderberg-Snooks tied it again in the last minute of the period on the Power Play after a high sticking minor by Axel Kirby. The third period’s lone goal was scored by none other than Derek Martin early on in the 5th minute. Things heated up over the course of the period between the two division rivals and a fight broke out between JR Frankenstero and Nathan Meager. Ultimately, the Pride were unable to tie the game up and fell to the Panthers 3-2. A statistical standout from game 3 is the 63% faceoff win percentage for the Panthers. 

Game 4 (LAP leads 2-1)
The Pride entered the game hoping to tie the series on their home ice and not head into game 5 in Los Angeles trailing 3-1. In a relatively quiet first period with each team playing cautiously, Los Angeles slowly found their footing and netted a goal at the 16 minute mark by Rasmus Bergling. The second period was all Pride with a standout performance by Oskar Scholz netting a Power Play goal after Alexi Piastri was called for tripping and then another even strength goal in the 12th minute. Early on in the third, Dominik Winters put in a third but the Panthers offense faltered in front of a phenomenal performance in goal by Justin Time with 34 saves on 35 shots. Another goal in the 3rd by Rowan O’Beirne on an empty net ended the scoring and with a 4-1 win, the Pride tied up the series on home ice. 

Game 5 (Series tied 2-2)
Having now split the games at each team’s respective arenas, this 7 game series turned into a 3 game series with the Panthers having a slight advantage playing two of the three at home. The Pride started off quickly with the lone goal of the first period in the second minute. The Panthers were unable to capitalize on their Power Play opportunity after Dominik Winters’ hooking penalty in the 13th minute. As the second period unfolded, the Panthers inability to find the back of the net turned into frustration and Oliver Castillon took a hooking penalty in the 8th minute that the Pride pounced on (pun fully intended) to put them up by two goals. The frustration continued in the second half of the 2nd with a slashing minor by Alexi Piastri and luckily for the Panthers, the Pride were unable to score. Ultimately, it wasn’t needed though as the play in net by Justin Time was perfection throughout the game and he added yet another playoff shutout to his career to make 9 in total. 

Game 6 (SFP leads 3-2)
Having turned the tide of the series in their favor with a win away at Los Angeles, the Pride headed into game 6 at home with all the confidence in the world. The first period saw 4 goals in total in a 7 minute window. There were two from each side and it was a back and forth affair on the scoring sheet. Oskar Scholz opened the scoring in the 10th minute only to have Jonas Salat tie it up again just 41 seconds later. Oskar Scholz again put the Pride on top in the 16th minute after a hooking minor on Pass Forfeit but once again, the Panthers rallied less than a minute later with a goal of their own. The shots, however, were lopsided in favor of the Pride having outshot Los Angeles 20-9 in the first period. Dominik Winters opened the scoring in the second with 4 seconds left on the Power Play after a slashing call on Elena Maximova but the veteran Lias Ekholm-Gunnarson tied it up with six and a half minutes left in the second. The Panthers took over in the third with a goal by Evan Winter. San Francisco tied it up again a couple minutes later as Viktor Hargreeves put the puck in the net. Less than two minutes later though, Los Angeles’ defensemen Rasmus Bergling netted the eventual game winner just 8 seconds into the Power Play after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Logan Webb. The scoring concluded after an empty netter with 8 seconds left in the game to make the final 6-4  but on the ensuing faceoff, tempers flared and Dominik Winters and Pass Forfeit were both penalized for roughing and if cooler heads had not prevailed, it likely would have ended in the gloves being dropped. 

Game 7 (Series tied 3-3)
Heading back to Los Angeles for game 7 of the series, the tension could be cut with a knife. The league’s top two teams were battling here in the second round in a game 7 match where the victor moves to the Western Conference Finals and the loser takes an early vacation. Adding onto that is the bitter rivalry they have being from the pacific division. 

The first period started off even in shots but not on the scoreboard. The Pride opened the scoring with a goal by Viktor Hargreeves in the 8th minute. A little over 7 minutes later at the 15 minute mark, Adam Prpich tied it up with an even strength goal. Two and half minutes later, Edzus Ozolins put the Pride back on top with a power play goal on a 5 on 3 advantage after an interference call on Alexi Piastri and a tripping call on Derek Martin. 

Starting the second period leading 2-1, Eggward Elric added to the Pride’s lead with an unassisted goal just over 2 minutes in to put the Pride up 3-1. In the second half of the period Viktor Hargreeves was called for Holding a stick and Derek Martin capitalized with an unassisted goal of his own on the Power Play to cut the Pride’s lead to 3-2. Just over 4 minutes later, Dominik Winters added to the Pride’s lead yet again with an even strength goal to make it 4-2. Less than a minute later Elena Maximova netted a goal on the Power Play after Levin Schattenaxt was called for slashing. A four goal second period ended with the Pride leading 4-3 on away ice. 

A slow start to the third period had no scoring for the first ten minutes but a costly penalty by Logan Webb would eventually lead to the Pride’s downfall after he was booked for a five minute Boarding major. The Panthers took full advantage of the major netting two Power Play goals: one by Evan Winter and an unassisted one by Adam Prpich to put the Panthers up 5-4. An empty netter by Reed Kobo with 18 seconds left in the period dashed any hopes the Pride had at beating their division rivals in game 7. In all, Los Angeles outshot the Pride 40-26 in game 7, scored on 4/6 Power Play opportunities and won 60% of the faceoffs.

The Western Conference Finals saw the Panthers facing off against the 3rd ranked team in the league: The Texas Renegades. Texas was coming off the back of two series they ended in quick succession having swept the Winnipeg Aurora in Round 1 and Winning their round 2 series against the New Orleans Specters in 5 games. With the lowest goals against average in the league, the Renegades would prove to be a challenge for the Panthers in the conference finals. 

Game 1
On home ice in game 1, a goal in the first by one of the top scorers in the playoffs in Chris Valentine put Texas on the board to make it 1-0. A pair of Power Play goals in the first half of the second period by the Panthers saw Los Angeles take the first lead of the game but on the last second of the second period, James Dion put the puck in the net with an unassisted goal to tie it up heading into the third. A relatively even third period saw the Panthers net the eventual game winner in the 18th minute by Oliver Castillon to make the game 3-2. 

Game 2 (LAP leads 1-0)
Out for vengeance in game 2 on away ice, the Renegades relied heavily on their netminder, Anthony Dionne. A late period goal by Chris Valentine was the lone goal of the first period to put Texas up 1-0 heading into the second. Mikko Rashford tied it up in the 7th minute of the second but a minute later Jack St. Clair scored to put the Renegades back on top 2-1. A late goal in the second by Chris Valentine spelled doom for Los Angeles considering the game Dionne was having in net for Texas. A single goal by Texas in the third was the period’s only scoring and the game ended with the Renegades handily beating Los Angeles after Anthony Dionne stopped 42/43 shots the Panthers threw his way. 

Game 3 (Series tied 1-1)
Texas found their offensive stride in game 3 early on with two goals in the first three minutes. Andren Akerson put one on the board for Los Angeles by the 11th minute, Texas had added two more by Patrice Bergeron and Jack St. Clair to put them up 4-1. Nearly two minutes later Adam Prpich reduced the Texas lead with a goal of his own to make it 4-2. The second period saw the Panthers try to rally when Evan Winter netted a goal in the 12th minute but just 21 seconds later David Doug put the Renegades up by two again to make it 5-3. Another goal in the 17th minute by Chris Valentine on the Power Play extended the lead to 6-3 but in the last minute of the second, Alexi Piastri scored for the Panthers. Starting the third period and with a 6-4 lead, Patrice Bergeron chased Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz from the net after he surrendered his 7th goal of the game just 24 seconds in. Another goal by Texas in the 8th ended the scoring and left the Panthers shaking their heads as they mentally tried to forget the game the domination they just felt. 

Game 4 (TEX leads 2-1)
A defensive battle at its finest, game 4 proved to be a rebound win for the Panthers and Brzęczyszczykiewicz in which they stymied the Texas offense and shut them out. The lone goal by Adam Prpich on the Power Play was all they needed in game 4 to head home with a tied series for game 5. This was Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz 3rd shutout of the playoffs so far…

Game 5 (Series tied 2-2)
It was a tale of three periods in game 5. The Panthers won period 1 with two goals by Elena Maximova and a shorthanded goal by Oliver Castillon in the 18th minute put them up 2-0 heading into the second. 

Texas rebounded in the second with two goals of their own, both by Petr Svoboda: one in the 9th minute and another with two minutes left in the period. 

The third period was all Los Angeles though and they started the scoring off early with a goal by Alexi Piastri nearly two minutes in and then another by Derek Martin early in the 16th minute. An empty netter by Mikko Rashford with a little over 30 seconds left in the third ended the scoring for the game. 

Having outshot the Panthers 48-28, the Renegades must have been left scratching their heads as to what went wrong in game 5 and what they needed to do in order to get more pucks past the Polish Wall of Brzęczyszczykiewicz before heading home for an elimination game. 

Game 6 (LAP leads 3-2)
The Renegades held their nerve in game 6 and continued with their game plan to keep putting pucks on net and force Brzęczyszczykiewicz to make saves. Chris Valentine opened the scoring in the first period with a goal in the 5th minute but right around the halfway mark of the period Derek Martin tied it up. Just a little over two minutes later, Petr Svoboda gave the lead back to Texas to end the period’s scoring. 

An early goal in the 5th minute of the second by Marton Diehm added to the lead for Texas on the Power Play after a holding call on Nathan Meagher. A little over a minute later, Reed Kobo reduced the Texas lead with an even strength unassisted goal to make it 3-2. 

An evenly played third period had no scoring until the Panthers pulled the goalie to try and net a tiebreaking goal only to see their chances in game 6 slip away after David-Arturri Donskoi scored an empty netter with less than a minute left. With the goalie still pulled Derek Martin scored with 21 seconds left in the period to give the Panthers a glimmer of hope only to see that hope squashed once Jack St. Clair scored yet another empty netter with 5 seconds left in the game.

Once again the Panthers found themselves heading home for a game 7 on home ice. 

Game 7 (Series tied 3-3)
With the series tied 3-3 going into game 7, these two Western Conference powers had the finals in their grasp. The Los Angeles home ice and the confidence it gave to the Brzęczyszczykiewicz was too much for the Renegades to overcome. During a 15 minute span from the end of the first to a bit past midway through the second period, the Panthers scored four even strength goals. It wasn’t until midway through the third that Chris Valentine removed the zero from the Texans score with a Power Play goal after Lias Ekholm-Gunnarsson was called for a bench minor. That was the last goal of the Texans season and the Los Angeles Panthers were on their way to the Challenge Cup Finals

In the Challenge Cup Finals, The Los Angeles Panthers squared off against the Tampa Bay Barracuda from the Eastern Conference. As the 3rd ranked team in the league and first ranked team in the Eastern Conference, the strengths of Tampa Bay over the course of the regular season was an all around solid team, especially in their forwards and goaltending.

Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
Starting out the Challenge Cup Finals on home ice for the Panthers proved to be a boost for Los Angeles particularly on the defensive side where they held the Barracuda to only 20 shots on goal which is nearly half of what they averaged on the season. A goal by Derek Martin towards the end of the first and a second by Andren Akerson midway through the second, they entered the third period up 2-0 having only allowed 12 shots on goal through 2 periods. The third period started off with a lamp light a little over 3 minutes in by Adam Prpich and then Oliver Castillon ended the scoring for the game in the 8th minute to make it 4-0. Los Angeles’ Penalty Kill proved too much for the Barracuda in game 1 as they were unable to take advantage when on the Power Play. Brzęczyszczykiewicz was perfect in goal and added another playoff shutout to his Season 78 playoffs to bring the total to 4. 

Game 2 (LAP leads 1-0)
Once again holding the Barracuda well under their average shots on goal for the season the Panthers showed the league why they were the top team. Their Penalty Kill was 100% for the night and they found the back of the net early and often. Just 4 minutes into the first, Evan Winter opened the scoring with an even strength goal. The Barracuda veteran Benson Fiorentini tied the game up in the 13th minute but just a few minutes later, Reed Kobo and Oliver Castillon added two more to the Panthers total to head into the second period leading 3-1. 

The second period provided little hope for the Barracuda when Derek Martin scored an even strength goal in the 8th minute and just 33 seconds later, Jonas Salat scored again to bring the score to 5-1. 

The third period was absolute domination by Los Angeles as they tacked on another four goals. Adam Prpich scored in the 4th minute and Oliver Castillon did what he does best with an unassisted shorty in the 8th minute. Lias Ekholm-Gunnarsson finally chased Tibuk Soonika from the Tampa net with the 8th goal for the Panthers in the 11th minute and Andren Akerson tacked another on for good measure within the last two minutes.

All in all it was a forgettable night for the Barracuda as they headed home down 0-2 in the series while Los Angeles was starting to imagine images of themselves hoisting the Challenge Cup with only two wins needed in the remaining 5 games. 

Game 3 (LAP leads 2-0)
Playing at home for the first time in the series the Barracuda found a bit of their offensive footing but was it too little too late?

Elena Maximova opened the scoring in the 8th minute of the first with an even strength goal. Jølngüštrâädüvich DuBølk gave Tampa Bay their first Power Play goal of the series after Evan Winter was called for tripping. It’s starting to feel repetitive at this point but Oliver Castillon added yet another shorthanded goal for the Panthers with 4 minutes left in the first to bring the score to 3-1 entering the second. 

The second period was evenly matched with 10 shots a side but no goals to show for it. 

RIP THUNDERDOME 2013-2023 opened the scoring in the third period to reduce the Panthers lead early in the period but Oliver Castillon added his second goal of the game with an even strength tally in the 9th minute. The regular season assist leader Johnny Wagner-Svenson added a goal of his own to tie the game at 3-3 midway through the period to give some hope to the Barracuda. Then in the 18th minute, Oliver Castillon completed his hat trick to put the game away with his game winning goal to give the Panthers a 3-0 series lead. 

Game 4 (LAP leads 3-0)
With their season on the line, the Barracuda’s league leading scorer, Max Carnage, tried to ignite a fire in his team and put the puck in the net just 18 seconds into the first period. The Murray added to their lead with a shorthanded goal 6 minutes later to end the first period scoring. 

The second period was a long back and forth but in the 18th minute, The Murray scored again, this time on the Power Play. Then with just 6 seconds left in the period, Max Carnage again found the back of the net to put the Barracuda’s lead to 4-0. 

Starting the 3rd period, at around the 5 minute mark, Max Carnage completed his first playoff hat trick with an unassisted even strength goal to bring the score to 5-0. At the midway mark of the period, Adam Prpich finally ruined any plan Tibuk Soonika had of a shutout with a goal and Derek Martin scored another on the Power Play just a minute and a half later. 

Now that Tampa Bay had finally found their offensive footing, was a comeback in the works? Needing to win out the final three games with two in Los Angeles would be a tall order. 

Game 5 (LAP leads 3-1)
Playing in front of a raucous Los Angeles crowd hoping to see the Panthers win on home ice, the Barracuda showed a bit of their mettle scoring early once again in hopes of setting the tone early for the game. Noah Smith, one of the youngest players on defense for the Barracuda in his rookie season, found the back of the net less than two minutes into the first. Max Carnage found a bit of space on the power play and managed to sneak another one in past Brzęczyszczykiewicz midway through the first to head into the second period with a 2 goal lead for Tampa Bay. 

Opening up the second period and trying to steal a bit of momentum from these east coast fish, Derek Martin lit the lamp with an unassisted goal less than two minutes into the period. Less than a minute later, the face-off specialist for Tampa Bay, Dag-Otto Bjorntjanst lit the lamp again, quieting the Los Angeles crowd who had gained a bit of life after Martin’s early goal. Then near the midway mark of the second period, Johnny Wagner-Svenson put in another goal past Brzęczyszczykiewicz to end the second period scoring.

With Tampa Bay leading 4-1 entering the 3rd period, the Barracuda found themselves energized and felt like a comeback was within their grasp. They added two more even strength goals in the third by Dan Craig and Jølngüštrâädüvich DuBølk sending the series back to Tampa Bay for Game 6. 

Game 6 (LAP leads 3-2)
Not wanting to spend another minute wondering what could have been if they lost this series, Los Angeles played to their strengths in game 6 and relied heavily on the goalie that had taken them this far by clearing his crease early and often, giving him good vision on incoming shots and picking their own shots carefully.

Midway through the first, Andren Akerson lit up the lamp behind Tibuk Soonika, quieting the rowdy crowd in Tampa Bay.

Again, midway through the second, Jonas Salat found the back of the net behind Soonika and the writing was on the wall that the Panthers were planning on hoisting the cup tonight.

When Derek Martin finally put the finishing touches on his playoff masterpiece with a late goal in the third period, you could hear a collective sigh of relief and then celebration all the way from California in Tampa Bay. The Barracuda had no answer for the defensive play from Los Angeles and Brzęczyszczykiewicz played one of, if not the best, Challenge Cup Finals performances in game 6 to shut out the potent offense from Tampa Bay yet again during the series. While the Barracuda had a high total of shots, Brzęczyszczykiewicz cleanly saved all of them. 

The red carpet was rolled out and the Panthers players celebrated their 5th Challenge Cup Victory. 


Playoff Team Statistics

Home and Away record
The Panthers record at home during the playoffs was 9-4 which equates to a roughly 69% win rate at home while their record on the road was 7-4 which gives us a 63% win rate. For comparison, their win rate at home during the regular season was about 76% if you factor in overtime losses as losses and their win rate on the road was 73%. I think it’s fair to expect the win rate tol suffer simply due to the higher level of competition you face in the playoffs. What I do think is important to point out is the fact that once again, you could expect the Panthers to win at home in roughly 7/10 games and to win around 3/5 games on the road in the playoffs. 

Goals For and Against
In their 24 playoffs games, the Panthers scored 94 goals and while conceding 62. Averaging that out over a 24 game span gives us a 3.91 Goals For per game and 2.58 Goals against per game. Similar to the home and away records and win rates, it is somewhat expected to go up against better opposing offenses and defenses in the playoffs. So a Goals For per game of 3.91, which is a little over a goal less than their season average, is still a high average. Their Goals Against per game actually dropped by about a half a goal. This is likely helped by having their top goalie in net to start each game but it’s also a testament to their team playing better once the playoffs started. Averaging 1.33 goals more than you surrender on any given night is always going to be a significant advantage. 

Power Play and Penalty Kill
Throughout the playoffs, the Panthers were 16/70 on the Power Play giving us a 22% Power Play success rate. They were 12/66 on the Penalty Kill giving us a 82% success rate. These are both a couple percentage points lower than their season totals but again, it’s to be expected considering the higher level of competition in the playoffs. These are still very respectable numbers considering that. Another aspect to consider is that they were able to score 5 shorthanded goals during those Penalty Kill opportunities.

Individual Playoff Performances

Derek Martin
In 24 games, Derek Martin scored 21 goals and had 14 assists for a total of 35 playoff points. That’s nearly 1.5 points per game against the best teams in the league. He also had one of the highest shot percentage of all forwards with 22.34% of his shots finding the back of hte net. 

Grzegorz Brzeczyszczykiewicz
With a 2.58 goals against average and a .926 save percentage, the top goalie for Los Angeles elevated his game even more during the playoffs compared to his regular season 2.82 goals against average and .910 save percentage. He also had 5 shutouts in only 24 games. During the regular season he managed that feat “only” 4 times in 42 more games and against lesser quality opponents on average. 

Oliver Castillon
Here’s a player who had a considerable jump in his level of play from the regular season purely based on stats. He averaged a little over a point per game with 26 points in total coming from 12 goals and 14 assists. What is astounding though is just how often he was able to score backbreaking shorthanded goals on some of the top teams in the league on the Penalty Kill unit having scored 4 in the playoffs in the 24 games the Panthers played. Keep in mind he scored 8 during the regular season over 66 games. 

Alexi Piastri and Adam Prpich both put up similar numbers in total points having scored exactly a point a game over their 24 game playoff run.

Both of their top defensemen put up solid numbers in the playoffs as well with Rasmus Bergling netting 3 goals and 13 assists for 16 points and Elena Maximova an even keeled 6 goals and 6 assists for 12 points. 

I mentioned earlier we had some other players stepping up their offensive games during the playoffs compared to the regular season and its important to give them some credit for this team’s cup run:

Reed Kobo: 5 Goals, 15 Assists, 20 Points
Axel Kirby: 2 Goals, 14 Assists, 16 Points
Andren Akerson: 8 Goals, 7 Assists, 15 Points
Mikko Rashford: 3 Goals, 10 Assists, 13 points

Conclusion
All in all, the Panthers Season 78 should come as no surprise that they were contenders this season given their talent on paper. Talent on paper doesn’t always translate to success on the ice though and the Panthers achieved that both in the regular season with their President’s trophy play and their ability to elevate their play during the SHL’s long playoffs in which they played another 24 games. 

Some statistical categories dropped a bit during the playoffs like win rates both home and away and Power Play and Penalty Kill. They weren’t not significant enough of a dropoff, however, in which it would be fair to say they played worse as a team considering the higher level of competition they faced throughout the playoffs. We need to keep in mind that other than their round 1 opponent of the Seattle Argonauts, they faced the 2nd, 3rd and 4th ranked teams in the league on their way to their 5th Challenge Cup in Season 78. 

I’d like to mention a few players that I think are worthy of the SHL Playoffs Most Valuable Player title and I think there’s some clear candidates here on the Panthers. With a point and a half per game, Derek Martin is a pretty clear cut candidate. With 5 shutouts and a .926 Save Percentage, Grzegorz Brzeczyszczykiewicz is also equally worthy. Lastly, there’s a little bit of a dark horse candidate so let’s not forget about Mr. Shorty himself, Oliver Castillon who had over a point per game and managed 4 shorthanded goals in 24 games. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this but barring that, I hope you were able to gain a bit of information from this article about why the Panthers were so successful this season. 

As an addendum, I’d like to mention that all of these statistics were taken from the SHL index and not everything is listed in easy to find totals, especially when it comes to playoff statistics such as win rates for home and way and penalty kill and power play statistics. I had to manually go through the schedule game by game to collect that data. So if I’m wrong about anything or I’ve missed something, feel free to let me know in the comments and I’ll try to fix it.