The Official National Hockey League Appreciation Thread

[KarateKen]

Panters win game two, 4-1, as the series shifts to Edmonton.

[KarateKen]

Leon Draisaitl will not be suspended for his illegal hit against Barkov in game two, where Leon left his feet to strike Barkov in the head with an elbow. Panthers coach Paul Maurice has issued a warning to Draisaitl and McDavid saying, "keep your head up." Could get very physical in game three. The hit caused injury to Aleksander Barkov on the play, and he is questionable for Thursday's game in Edmonton.

[KarateKen]

Panters win 4-3 and take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series with a chance to win the cup Saturday night in Edmonton. The Oilers made it interesting with a late push, down 4-1 after two and getting it to 4-3, but Florida holds on and needs one more victory to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in team history.

Ironically, I guess, it was one year ago today (June 13) when the Panthers were eliminated by Vegas and now, they are almost certainly going to win the cup this year after tonight's win. Only once in NHL history has a team come back from three games to zero deficit to win in the Cup Finals, and that was in 1942.

Barring a miracle comeback by the Oilers, the Florida Panthers will be the 2023-24 Stanely Cup Champions.

[aurik]

Up until about halfway through the third period, I didn't even think the Oilers were really going to show up last night. Then they tried to come back and make a real game of it.

However, the odds of them coming back to win from 0-3 is near nil. I've seen it happen exactly once in my 10+ years watching the NHL.

[KarateKen]

Stunning score in game four as the Oilers crush the Panthers 8-1, avoiding the sweep and sending the series back to Florida Tuesday night.

[aurik]

That's one win. The Oilers still need to pull of 3 more in a row. I don't see it happening.

[KarateKen]

McDavid puts up four points as the Oilers win game five, cutting Florida's lead in the series to 3-2 with game six shifting back to Edmonton on Friday. Final score on Tuesday was Oilers 5 Panthers 3.

[KarateKen]

My pick before the series was Panthers in six, so I am sticking with that, but I do hope that the game is close because if the Oilers are ahead, or this game is tied, after the second period, things are going to get interesting, and if there is a game seven all the pressure will be on the Panthers to make sure they don't blow this thing.

[sensei8]

It's been quite an exciting Stanley Cup Championship. I think that games with seeds 3 and 5 can be quite exhilarating. Thought the 3rd seed Panthers might sweep but the 5th seed Oilers still have fight left in them. I mean, the Oilers came back in do-or-die situation and won game 4 quite dominating with a final score of 8-1.

Don't know which team will hoist up the Stanley Cup victorious when all of the dust settles but whichever one does, all I can say is...WOW.

[aurik]

I don't think the Oilers will continue to dominate the Panthers for the next 2 games. I expect the Panthers to snuff out the Oilers' Stanley Cup dreams this evening.