Stanley Cup! 2025

[Wyldnwoody44]

I love hockey, so I'm not opposed to this going the distance. 

 

If E Kane wasn't on the Oil I would def, hands down, want them to win. Gun to head, I kind of enjoy seeing Canada not have a cup in their own national sport. 

On the converse side, FLA already has theirs, and I want to see that Skinner Smile (Jeff) raising the cup in his first playoffs. 

So I'd say I'm 51/49% in favor of FLA but really can typically watch unbiased, which makes the hockey even better. 

[SwampD]

14 hours ago, K012010 said:

I’m okay with either team winning— I like Florida and I really like the way they are built, but I’d be okay with McDavid getting his first Stanley Cup. I was also really happy to see Skinner have a great redemption before getting replaced by Pickard again. 

I just can’t stand when one team is helped along, which is exactly what happened tonight. I mean, you have Bettman saying that McDavid transcends hockey right before the finals starts. He obviously wants McDavid to get at least one Stanley Cup.

I just didn’t see one sided officiating last night. Although, admittedly, I wasn’t watching all that closely. I did see plenty of plays by the panthers that I thought should have been penalties and weren’t.

[gomper]

1 hour ago, SwampD said:

I just didn’t see one sided officiating last night. Although, admittedly, I wasn’t watching all that closely. I did see plenty of plays by the panthers that I thought should have been penalties and weren’t.

That's what Florida does and they're masters at it. This is shaping up to be an all-time series.  We'll see where it goes from here. Knobloch seems to have the magic touch. Talk about knowing your team. 

[JoeSchmoe]

For everyone complaining about the lopsided officiating, did you not see the high stick before the 3rd Florida goal?

McDavid or not, a cup for Edmonton is not in Bettman's best interest. It won't grow the game much more in Canada, and it certainly won't grow the game in the US compared to what a repeat for FLA would.

It's just the same thing we see every year... Don't expect anything but the most blatent penalties to be called late in a Cup Final game... And if you're not coaching your team to play with this in mind, you're doing it wrong.

Edited 16 hours ago by JoeSchmoe

[rickshaw]

I cannot believe the comments here about officiating. 
In first period of game 4, the Oilers rightfully had three penalties, 2 for high sticks. Yet it was incredible to me that two high sticks by Florida were somehow not called (one while in pp) the other leading directly to the third goal.

To suggest the Panthers were jobbed by refs is such a wild take when they get away with more blatant fouls than any team in hockey. I’m talking dangerous plays like high sticks. 
 

You can think what you like but Edmonton is not who the NHL wants to win and they’ll have to do it despite officials. (I despise both teams but it’s time Canada got a Cup again)

 

Edited 14 hours ago by rickshaw

[rickshaw]

On 6/12/2025 at 9:11 PM, K012010 said:

I watched the entire game. You couldn’t be more wrong, but hey it’s your opinion. We are both free to have them.

both in first period, first leads to goal 3, second happens while Florida on a PP. 

Edited 14 hours ago by rickshaw

[Wyldnwoody44]

Much tighter checking this game. FLA looks a bit more tired as of this far. 

[Pimlach]

The Rat casually puts one in. 

[...]

[Wyldnwoody44]

Let's see what they do with the lead tonight 

[Huckleberry]

50 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The Rat casually puts one in. 

Beautiful play though by him, first on the puck before anyone knew what was happening.

 

[Eleven]

ABC is showing the United Football League final.  It's the DC Defenders against the Michigan Panthers.  On ABC.

TNT is showing Game 5.

[...]

[K012010]

Wow

[Doohickie]

The Rat is en fuego.

[...]

[Wyldnwoody44]

Both times he got a jump on the face off, crazy. At 37, I woke up with a limp from sleeping to hard 😂

[...]

3 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Both times he got a jump on the face off, crazy. At 37, I woke up with a limp from sleeping to hard 😂

There are pills for that.

[Wyldnwoody44]

Just now, ... said:

There are pills for that.

Yeah... But they last longer than 4 hours... 😁

SAMMY

[...]

[Doohickie]

[Mango]

8 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

For everyone complaining about the lopsided officiating, did you not see the high stick before the 3rd Florida goal?

McDavid or not, a cup for Edmonton is not in Bettman's best interest. It won't grow the game much more in Canada, and it certainly won't grow the game in the US compared to what a repeat for FLA would.

It's just the same thing we see every year... Don't expect anything but the most blatent penalties to be called late in a Cup Final game... And if you're not coaching your team to play with this in mind, you're doing it wrong.

I actually think that not having a  cup for Edmonton is a wart on the league. His nickname is McJesus. He's the best player in the game by a mile. Leagues need their stars to win sometimes. 

It's not a market size issue. I think the personality issue is worse. It's similar but different to the NBA at the moment. The issue isn't exactly Indiana v OKC. It's that casual fans don't really know them. If it was Durant v Reggie Miller it would be zero issue.

The NHL desperately needs their star to be a star and win a championship.

Edited 8 hours ago by Mango

[Mango]

I can't believe we have a 4-2 game with 34 total SOG.

[...]

[Big Guava]

Evan Rodrigues wasn't good enough to be on terrible Sabre teams but somehow has been good enough to play on multiple playoff teams that have made deep runs and won a Stanley Cup last year with the Panthers(and on the cusp of another one this year).

Also has 30 points in his last 43 playoff games over the past 2 years, so he shows up in the playoffs.

Sabres love getting rid of players that go on to win Stanley Cups elsewhere. It's really almost unfathomable how many times this happens.