Stanley Cup Playoff Takeaways: Round 3 + Stanley Cup Prediction

Photo by Jason Franson from The Canadian Press

This NHL postseason has been awesome so far.

Which makes it stink to high heavens that the conference finals really stunk.

But still, we learned an awful lot.

Panthers defeat Hurricanes 4-1

You know the saying. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

Unfortunately for Carolina, the Panthers work insanely hard and are more talented.

That’s really the only difference between these two.

They both play a very similar brand of hockey, and both are good teams.

But the Panthers flat out have more talent than the Canes do.

It is what it is.

Oilers defeat Stars 4-1

Credit goes to the Edmonton Oilers for slamming the door shut on Dallas after a game 1 loss in which they capitulated in the third period, but this story is about how badly this series went for the Stars.

Wyatt Johnston was a liability. Mikko Rantanen cooled off massively. Jake Oettinger was fine, but not what he had been in prior series.

And speaking of Oettinger, let’s talk about Pete DeBoer and game 5.

A couple of rounds ago, the Winnipeg Jets were playing the St. Louis Blues, and in game 7, Connor Hellebuyck gave up two soft goals to go down 2-0 to start the game.

Personally, I thought the Jets should pull him.

But they didn’t. They stuck with him, and he played very solidly the rest of the way to get a double overtime victory.

Last night, after a powerplay goal and a partial breakaway made it 2-0 for the Oilers, Pete DeBoer pulled Jake Oettinger in favor of Casey DeSmith.

DeSmith gave up another goal one minute later, and it felt like curtains from that point on.

I don’t blame DeBoer for pulling Oettinger.

I wouldn’t have, but it’s an elimination game. He made a call he felt was right and it didn’t work out.

But he then spent his post game press conference throwing Oettinger under the bus, saying he hasn’t beaten the Oilers much the past two years.

In games 2 through 4, the Stars scored a total of 2 goals.

Throwing your best performing player under the bus seems like a sure fire way to lose the locker room.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Stars feel DeBoer has run dry in Dallas, and make a change.

Stanley Cup Prediction

It’s a rematch of last year, where the Panthers won in 7.

Sergei Bobrovsky has stood on his head this postseason, as the Panthers goalie has saved 8.5 goals above expected so far.

The problem is, the Panthers have given up the second most expected goals this postseason.

The first? Jake Oettinger and the Dallas Stars, who the Oilers just blew through like they were barely standing in the way.

McDavid and Draisaitl feel as if they’re on a mission.

Edmonton Wins the Stanley Cup.