Stanley Cup Final Takeaways
Photo from The Miami Herald
The Canadian Cup drought continues, and they did it in a super mean way this time around.
The Panthers win their first ever Stanley Cup, and avoid becoming one of the most infamous teams in history by finishing off the Oilers in Game 7.
Panthers defeat Oilers 4-3
Florida Panthers
The Panthers leading points scorer in the playoffs was captain Sasha Barkov who had 22 points.
That’s not bad by any means, but it is the lowest leading scorer of a Stanley Cup winner since 2016 when Phil Kessel also had 22 points.
So how did they do it?
It starts with depth.
Barkov had 22 points, but fellow Panthers Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell, Evan Rodrigues were all right there with him.
The Panthers had depth, which is crucial for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
You need your stars to perform, but when Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart went cold in the Finals, Evan Rodrigues stepped up and did what he needed to do.
And then in game 7, Verhaeghe got onto the score sheet along with Reinhart getting the goal.
The stars showed up when needed, the depth backed them up.
You also have Sergei Bobrovsky, who had a red hot playoff run and an excellent Cup Final between games 1 and 3.
And even though games 4 through 6 were a disaster for the Russian goaltender, he dusted it off and put in a great performance when the Panthers needed him most.
In another year, he’d be the easy Conn Smythe winner.
(Not his fault Connor McDavid broke a Gretzky record).
Then there’s Paul Maurice and his defensive strategy. A strategy that found the Panthers with a one goal lead in the third period against the best offense in hockey, yet stifling every single quality chance they had.
It’s very fitting that the memory that will last a lifetime for Panthers fans is the team surrounded in the corner keeping the puck against the boards.
It’s the perfect way for it to end.
Edmonton Oilers
You need your stars to show up.
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard were no shows in games 1 through 3, and it’s how the Oilers found themselves in a hole.
They were excellent in games 4 through 6, and it’s how they came storming back.
And then, in the biggest game of their lives, a winner take all for the Stanley Cup, the trio put up another goose egg.
You can have off nights in the playoffs. Nobody expects perfection night in and night out.
But you can’t dig yourself a hole, and then jump right back in when you got yourself out of it.
The other concern for the Oilers was goaltending, and Stuart Skinner was fine overall, but the Cup winning goal by Sam Reinhart really should have been saved.
It’s another missed opportunity for a team that has consistently been right there, and I think fans would accept if the squad gave it all they had and fell short.
But to have the stars be no shows?
That’s going to sting for a while.
