Luke Fox SPORTSNET
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — During one of his 100-some media sessions during what will be a 65-day playoff grind, Paul Maurice notices the attire of a questioner.
"Like the hat," the head coach of the Florida Panthers says, dryly. Which is how Maurice says most things. The reporter's cap is emblazoned with the perfect logo of the flawed Hartford Whalers, the franchise that gave Maurice his first job in the league that competes for the Stanley Cup, which will soon be hoisted and kissed and taken for a gleaming twirl on a legacy-defining Monday night at the edge of the Everglades. The stories of our sports heroes are written large in a Game 7. So, too, are the tales of goats. And while the tell-the-grandkids legends of resurrected Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and Stuart Skinner and Zach Hyman and the rest might well begin with the Miracle of '24, we'll argue that no singular reputation of an individual involved in the 1,400th and final hockey game of this never-ending season has more on the line than Maurice. From the Florida side, we'll listen to your case for the suddenly slumping Sergei Bobrovsky, a borderline Hall of Famer and the club's oldest player. Or even in-house goaltending czar Roberto Luongo, whose only rings are Olympic. But Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling, Matthew Tkachuk and the rest still have runway. An Oilers victory — the first reverse sweep since Bing Crosby ruled the living-room radio — would cement the historic for McDavid & Co. But that core is firmly in its prime, and rookie head coach Kris Knoblauch has all of 93 NHL games on his résumé. Hey, win or lose, they gave us a ride. No, it's Maurice whose place in the game's lore will be most defined by the numbers frozen on the Amerant Bank Arena Jumbotron over the shredded ice and tears. The affable hockey lifer will either become the longest-serving coach in pro sports to win his first championship, or he will oversee the greatest title collapse of any living pro coach. Couple that with Maurice's dubious all-time NHL coaching record for most losses (736), and it's a hell of an investment into 60 minutes (or more) when the guy's feet won't even touch the ice until it's time to shake hands and swell up with grief or joy. Pick one. "Every coach is different," Maurice said, on the day before his Cats began their leap to a 3-0 lead and two weeks before they'd let it settle at 3-3. "And it seems to me, as you age, you get a different perspective on life and what’s important and valuable. "I need to win one. "Now, it’s not going to change the section of my life that’s not related to hockey at all. That’s the truth. That’s how I feel. I’m 30 years into this thing. Wouldn’t mind winning one." Maurice will tell you he believed his career was over and title-less when he and the Winnipeg Jets severed ties. He was fishing a bunch, sure. Enjoyed that. Yet he never reached "peaceful" in his failure to retire. "But I understand what it feels like — to feel like it’s over and didn’t win. Didn’t win. I know coaches that feel the opposite," he says. "I carry the losses. But that goes back to starting very, very young. So, I’m going to know when this thing’s all over either how good I got or how good I was. And I won’t need somebody else to tell me that or to value my career." He pauses, thinks, and repeats his truth: "Yeah, I’d like to really win one, man."
Let's go back to starting very, very young and the nostalgia triggered by some media guy's hat. In 1995 — a few months before Florida's leading goal-scorer, Sam Reinhart, was born — the up-and-coming Maurice guided his Detroit Jr. Red Wings to an OHL championship and a berth in the Memorial Cup final... where the host Kamloops Blazers waxed Maurice's teenagers 8-2. He'd shown enough to earn a promotion to the crummy Whalers that fall, where the 28-year-old became the second-youngest NHL coach in history, as the Draisaitls gave birth to a boy named Leon in Cologne, Germany. Maurice's first two trips to the final, with Carolina in 2002 and Florida in 2023, never got past Game 5. Heck, even he and Ralph Krueger's overachieving Team Europe fell just short, to his native Canada, in the 2016 World Cup gold-medal game. Neither Maurice's regular-season points percentage (.536) nor his winning percentage in 11 post-seasons (.507) will wow you as much as his razor wit or his all-in devotion to the gig. He freely admits that his work-life balance these days is as lopsided as playing teeter-totter with a sumo wrestler. But is that not the way it's supposed to be when your team is skating past the solstice? No Cup, and Maurice risks bowing out one day with a fistful of silver medals and a darn cool stat: youngest in NHL history to coach 1,000 games, which he achieved back in 2010. Feelings that his own legacy hangs in the balance on a Monday night in Sunrise? “I don’t fight them. If I did, it would have been after Game 3," Maurice says. "You could just feel it; it was right there. Dropping the next two games puts you right back into the series, and it gets right back to hockey forefront. So, I don’t have to fight any of those thoughts. There’s no daydreaming. This is all: Get the video right. Prep your team right.”
The 57-year-old was but five when his Stanley Cup wish was broadcast from one of the three channels that would come in clear enough on the family TV set in Sault Ste Marie, Ont. "Saturday night for us, if we didn’t play hockey, our parents would take us skating. My mom would make a pot of spaghetti or chili. We watched hockey. You knew you were getting older because you could make it to the third period. That’s the way it was," Maurice says. "My mom would make popcorn with a half-pound of butter. The half glass of Coke you got was smeared with butter. There was salt everywhere. You’d get up the next morning and eat the rest of what your dad didn’t eat." Maybe Maurice was too young to appreciate those early years, but when he hit his mid-teens, the run-and-gun Oilers ruled his world. Didn't hurt that Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey began stirring buzz as Greyhounds in the Soo. "They used to play street hockey sometimes in the tennis courts across the street from my house," Maurice says. "My parents still live there today. So, that was where it became the dream." Hang around this rock long enough, and you learn that plenty of dreams remain just that. Deferred indefinitely. Until you accept — or pretend to accept — they just weren't meant to be. Hours before Game 4 in Edmonton, when the Oilers had nine toes in the grave, Maurice was asked to think back one June ago, when his Panthers got crushed and inspired by their five-game Cup Final loss to Vegas. If someone had told Maurice on that gutting night that he'd be right back in the Final in 2024 with a 3-0 series lead, what would he think? "I’d be really, really happy not to have heard that," Maurice replied. "It would’ve made my life far worse to know that. You’d think that’s crazy, right?" The coach eschews the comfort of knowledge. "Because it would’ve taken every bit of joy, of adversity — of life — out of my life. The journey is where the friendships, all the funny stories that aren’t funny to anybody else that we think are hilarious, they happened in that year of not knowing," Maurice says. "The arduous pursuit of excellence without the guarantee of reward. I would absolutely not have wanted to know that." Just as none of us (gamblers excepted) want to know the result of Game 7. Or could possibly imagine how Maurice will feel as the buzzer blares. Either way.
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IN WHAT HAS TO BE THE SHITIEST FUCKING FOOTBALL MATCH I'VE EVER SEEN - AND I'VE WATCHED KIDS AND AMERICANS - SCOTLAND STILL FUCKING DOMINATED! AND LOST! THESE FUCKING TOILET HEADS PLAYED THE ONLY FUCKING TEAM IN THE FUCKING WORLD SHITTIER THAN THEM, AND STILL LOST! I LEFT EARLY THE VISITATION FOR MY PAL JUST TO WATCH THIS SHYTE. THANK FUCK HE IS DEID, SO HE DID NOT HAVE TO SEE THIS RUBBISH. AND THAT WAS A FUCKING PENALTY!
Luke Fox SPORTSNET
EDMONTON — Two high-powered dramas are unfolding in real time on the grandest stage.
In one corner, you have the believers: The Edmonton Oilers, whose attempt to complete just the second reverse-sweep in a championship series in the history of major North American pro sports is so romantic, Disney might turn down the script for being a little too rich. In the other corner, you have the shook: The Florida Panthers, staring directly into the abyss, facing the calibre of missed opportunity that could well haunt a man his entire life. General manager Bill Zito has switched from launching water bottles to delivering death stares so chilling, they could burn a hole through Stuart Skinner — except, the way he's going, the goalie would probably get a blocker on it.
Head coach Paul Maurice is hollering at officials and tightening his answers to the media, noting facetiously that he has "the opportunity to meet with you people five more times before the next game."
And fading star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, he of three consecutive losses and three consecutive sub-.845-save-percentage efforts, is... well, who knows? Because the Panthers are sheltering a major character in this drama from the microphones and cameras. Four cracks at glory have shrivelled to one. After another rocking party for the home crowd Friday night at Rogers Place, where the Oilers thumped the Panthers 5-1 (with two empty-netters), a tightening is afoot. And not just in the 3-3 series count, which will give sports fans a best-of-one Monday in Sunrise. Silent and glassy-eyed, the Panthers cycled off some lactic acid and walked out of the rink from Game 6. “It’s tough. Obviously, a tough one to take," said Carter Verhaeghe, who said the right words. “I think we’re a confident group. They’re here for a reason, we’re here for a reason, and, I mean, it’s the Stanley Cup Final. They’re a really good team, and it’s for us to come back and respond next game.” Absolutely, the Panthers are capable of just that. Of making this column moot. Win in seven, and they'll be immortalised. We'll celebrate their mental fortitude and wait for the Stanley Cup to wind its way down the A1A to the Elbo Room. Lose four in a row — which is something these Panthers did in January and March — and they'll be immortalised as well. Most of our parents weren't alive to witness history's only collapse of this calibre: The 1942 Detroit Red Wings blew a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final to the Toronto Maple Leafs (Gods). How can the weight of the opportunity to lose not worm its way into players and coaches' minds, and take up space where the opportunity to win was the only thought eight days ago — before the Stanley Cup's airmiles began piling up like an Albertan 50/50 draw total? "Well, right now, if you walked into the room, there won’t be a lot of happy people," Maurice said. "I’m not worried about what it does tonight. It doesn’t have to be right tonight.
"You’ve suffered a defeat. You feel it. It hurts. You lick your wounds, and we start building that back tomorrow. But who you are tonight means nothing to who you’re going to be two days from now."
Who the Panthers were on Friday won't cut it. For the third straight game, they gave up the first goal and got chasing. Their power-play is in shambles. And as Edmonton has earned an edge in middle ice, Florida's first shot on goal by a forward didn't arrive until the contest was 31 minutes old. They also had their potential comeback moment thwarted by a painfully close off-side challenge by Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, as a perceived, crowd-quieting Aleksander Barkov goal was wiped of the board in Period 2. Maurice was livid in the moment, maintaining that none of the angles available to his bench showed Sam Reinhart a sliver off-side. "The linesperson (WTF!?!) informed me that it was the last clip that they got where they made the decision that shows it’s off-side. I don’t have those," Maurice said, during his longest post-game answer. "I was upset after the call based on what I see at my feet, what my video person looks at. There was no way I would’ve challenged that if it was reversed. There was no way I thought you could conclusively say that was off-side. "I don’t know what the Oilers get; I don’t know what the league gets. I just know that when I would’ve had to have challenged that based on what I saw, I would not have challenged. I’m not saying it's not off-side. We’ll get still frames, bring in the CIA, we’ll figure it out. But in the 30 seconds that I would’ve made that call, I would not have challenged." In an alternate universe, perhaps Barkov's goal stands and the Panthers rally. But in this universe, Florida is facing its first elimination game of these playoffs. And the first time in 82 years that a hockey team could unravel in such spectacular fashion. “We’re going home to play a Game 7 for the Stanley Cup Final. I think any time you do that, everyone’s going to be jacked up and excited, and it’s going to be an awesome game," Verhaeghe said. "You dream of it as a little kid.” Little kids also have nightmares. ![]()
Move over Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, there is a new playoff goal leader among active players.
With his breakaway goal in the second period of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday, Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman not only gave his team a 3-0 lead, but also set a new mark for most goals in a single post-season among active players with his 16th of the playoffs. Ovechkin (2018) and Crosby (2009) each had 15 goals one post-season, but have now been outdone by the 32-year-old Hyman. The all-time record for goals in a single post-season is held by Reggie Leach, who scored 19 goals in just 16 games during the 1976 playoffs with the Philadelphia Flyers.
In the last 30 years, only Joe Sakic (18) and Pavel Bure (16) have scored as many goals in the playoffs. Hyman finished the regular season with a career-high 54 goals, good for third-best in the league. With his 16 in the playoffs, Hyman has now tied Toronto Maple Leafs forward and former team mate Auston Matthews for the most combined regular season and playoff goals with 70. The Edmonton Oilers are one game away from accomplishing the near impossible.
After their Game 6 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday in the Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers became just the 10th team in NHL history to force a Game 7 after trailing a series 3-0. Looking at the record books, even what the Oilers have already accomplished is impressive. Out of the 211 teams to face a 3-0 series deficit, only nine others have done what the Oilers did Friday and forced a Game 7. Unfortunately for the Oilers, less than half the teams to force a Game 7 have finished the job — and only one has done it in the Cup Final The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs (Gods) are the only team to rally from a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final. Outside the championship series, the 1975 New York Islanders, the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers, and the 2014 Los Angeles Kings also all successfully won four straight games after falling down 3-0. Five other teams in NHL history have managed to come back from down 3-0 only to lose in Game 7. The two instances over the past 45 years both occurred in the 2011 playoffs, with the Vancouver Canucks surviving to eliminate the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round and the Red Wings falling to the Sharks after forcing a Game 7 in the second round. But the Oilers are in "Cup or bust mode," and so the goal was never to just force a Game 7. Stuart Skinner knew right from their Game 3 loss, that the Oilers's ultimate goal was still achievable. "I'm not too sure what the stats are coming back (from being down 3-0), but if anyone can do it, it's the Oil," Skinner said after then. Many wouldn't have believed him back then. But with the Stanley Cup Final down to a one-game, winner-takes-all showdown on Monday, Skinner may look like a genius soon enough. You can watch Game 7 on Monday starting at 8 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. MT.
Bunch of Illiterate Fucks
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Kris Knoblauch continues to make all the right moves on the Edmonton Oilers's run to the Stanley Cup Final.
The coach who took over in November successfully challenged a goal by the Florida Panthers at a crucial juncture of Game 6 of the final. The off-side call took a goal by Aleksander Barkov off the board 10 seconds after Adam Henrique scored to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead, a turning point in the game they won 5-1. “The off-side call, it’s a nice break to go our way, for sure,” forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "At the end of the day, he’s got to make the call, so it’s probably a little stressful to make that call at that time of game.” Officials in consultation with the NHL’s situation room in Toronto found Sam Reinhart was in the zone maybe an centimetre before Barkov carried it in. The sell out crowd of over 18,000 roared when Chris Rooney announced that the play was off-side and waved off the goal. “I actually didn’t think it was that close,” Knoblauch said. “In my mind it was definitely off-side, but I guess you never know. It was something I wanted to challenge almost immediately when I saw it.” Knoblauch all playoffs has pushed the right buttons, whether it be a goaltending change in the second round or tweaking his line up throughout. Had the challenge been unsuccessful, by league rules Edmonton would have got a two-minute minor penalty and put Florida on the power play with the chance to tie it. “It was very tight," centre Leon Draisaitl said. "I personally thought it was the right call, but you never know. Knobber has the right touch. He knows what he’s doing, and he seems to make the right decisions a lot more often than not. That was a big one.” Knoblauch credited video coach Noah "Oy Vey" Segall and video and coaching analytics coordinator Mike Fanelli for their role in the decision. (A hebe and a wop? There's an american joke in there ...) "The guys in the back room, I’ve sat back there and watched them do their job," defenceman Darnell Nurse said. "They’re so to the point and analysing everything. Obviously, they were very confident and they made the right call. It was a huge point for us.” Panthers coach Paul Maurice did little to hide his disbelief when the goal was taken down, screaming at officials from his spot behind the Florida bench. Afterward, he said he was upset initially because he did not see the angle that the league and officials got to overturn the goal. “The linesperson (WTF!?!) informed it was the last clip that they got where they made the decision that it shows it’s off-side,” Maurice said. “I don’t know what the Oilers get. I don’t know what the league gets. I just know that when I would have had to have challenged that based on what I saw, I would not have challenged. I’m not saying it’s not off-side. We’ll get still frames, we’ll bring in the CIA and we’ll figure it out, but in the 30 seconds that I would have made that call, I would not have challenged it.” Come all the way back from 3-0 deficit in series to play Panthers for championship on Monday in Florida Robert Tychkowski EDMONTON JOURNAL Get back in the box, Stanley, you’re flying back to Florida. Some 82 years after the NHL said ‘We’re never going to see anything like this again,’ the Edmonton Oilers are sixty minutes away from re-writing hockey history. A season defined by logic-bending recoveries and unshakable belief is about to reach its final crescendo, with The Team That Wouldn’t Die climbing out of one last hole to set up one last game for the Stanley Cup. The impossible is now a coin toss. The miracle is three-quarters complete. “It’s been a hell of a story so far, but at the end of the day we play to win,” said forward Leon Draisaitl, after the Oilers and their fans brought the roof down on the Florida Panthers Friday, running away with Game 6 and forcing a seventh and deciding game in a series that was supposed to be over 10 days ago. “I’m just really proud of the way we gave ourselves a chance. This is going to be the hardest game of the series, we know that, but we’re really, really proud that we gave ourselves a chance.” Anyone (meaning everyone) who left Edmonton’s body for the worms after they lost the first three games to Florida is as stunned as the Panthers are that this thing isn’t over yet. Over? The Oilers climbed out of 31st place this season, they don’t know what “over” means. But, in a 5-1 victory to set up the most improbable Game 7 since 1942, they made Florida know one true thing — you back Edmonton into a corner at your own peril. The Oilers staved off elimination for the third game in a row and fifth time in these playoffs, controlling Florida from start to finish in yet another convincing win. In Games 4-5-6-7 seven in the playoffs this year, the Oilers are 11-2. When the money is on the table, they find a gear that nobody has been able to match. Not Los Angeles, not Vancouver, not Dallas and not Florida. Not yet, anyway. “We’ve taken the hardest route but it’s been a lot of fun,” said 13-year-veteran Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “You’re in the Stanley Cup Final, you have a chance. “It shows the kind of group we have in here. You have to believe in each other and you have to have a ton of character. We have an amazing opportunity here and we’re going to put our best foot forward on Monday.” The Oilers beat Florida 8-1 in Game 4, jumped out to a 4-1 lead in Game 5 and ran away with Game 6. In all, they’ve outscored Florida 20-5 over the last 11 periods. Suddenly it’s starting to look less and less like a miracle and more and more like the better team in this series is starting to pull away.
But, when it’s 60 minutes for a Stanley Cup, everybody starts from scratch. “It doesn’t matter how you get there, Game 7s always have their own life,” said Mattias Janmark, who is putting his own very important stamp on this incredible story. “The start of the game will be big. You want to keep that momentum but we can’t count on it, we have to create it for ourselves next game. “We’ve worked so hard to pull our way back in the series and now we have the hardest game to win. We have to re-set and get ready for that game. But if you told us one week ago that we would be in this position, we’d take it.” The crowd at Rogers Place did its part, living up to its reputation as the loudest in the game. They hit 114 decibels when Edmonton skated out of the tunnel, nailed both anthems and shook the building all night long. When Warren Foegele made it 1-0, when Adam Henrique made it 2-0, when Aleksander Barkov’s goal got taken off the board for being off-side and when Zach Hyman’s breakaway goal made it 3-0 at the second intermission, the noise somehow found another level. And when Ryan McLeod and Darnell Nurse scored empty netters to guarantee the win, forget about it. It was as joyous and jubilant as you can get without actually wining a Stanley Cup, mostly because every single person in that building believes the Oilers are winning the Stanley Cup on Monday. “It means the world to us,” Draisaitl said of the atmosphere. “I’ve been here for a long time, been through some pretty bad years, and the people who were there tonight, they showed up every night, still showed up at games and supported us. To give them that is really special. Hopefully we can finish the job for them.” And now you really have to wonder what the Panthers are thinking after falling flat for the third straight time. When the game was on the line Friday, Florida had five shots on goal through 30 minutes, That doesn’t look like a team that’s ready to impose its will on a series, it’s more like a team that had its shot and missed. Luke Fox SPORTSNET EDMONTON — Paul Maurice, ever a preacher of the positive when he takes to the Stanley Cup Final podium, would never frame his line up changes as punishments.
But a couple of his Florida Panthers will pay for their mistakes in Game 5's 5-3 loss by taking a reduced role in Game 6. Brandon Montour has not been singled out by name (and there's no point in doing so), but the right-shot defenceman's careless cross-ice pass at the top of the offensive zone during the Panthers' first power-play Tuesday has got him demoted off the top unit. Montour's pass was picked off by speedy Edmonton Oilers penalty killer Connor Brown, who made good on a shorthanded breakaway and gave the visitors a lead they would not relinquish. Maurice promoted veteran lefty Oliver Ekman-Larsson mid-game to the top unit of a power-play that has a concerning minus-one goal differential in the series. Now, he's sticking with that formation for Friday's Game 6. "This is what he's done for his entire life. He used to drive me nuts," said the former Jets coach of Ekman-Larsson. "The composure he has at the top sets him apart. He's relishing it. He gets back in his wheelhouse." This is far from foreign territory for Ekman-Larsson, who played a key role in Florida's power play early in the season when Montour was recovering from shoulder surgery. Another mistake belonged to respected but slowing veteran Kyle Okposo, who committed a minor hooking penalty in the second period. That infraction halted the momentum Florida gained from Matthew Tkachuk's first goal of the series, as Corey Perry popped in a power-play marker with Okposo in the box. Okposo will be scratched in Game 6 in favour of winger Nick Cousins, who makes his Final debut and sees his first game action in 26 days. "Speed, energy, camaraderie," says line mate Ryan Lomberg. "We've been doing it together for a couple years here, so excited to have him back in there." Cousins injects fresh legs and, surely, some nervous energy. "They come back, and they're jacked," says Maurice, recognising that it's been difficult for his veterans that get healthy scratched. "Nick and Ryan have experience together." The third tweak Maurice is making is flipping his top-six left wingers, a go-to move of the coach's whenever things get stale during this deep run. Carter Verhaeghe has earned his reputation as a big-game player, but he's a series-worst minus-seven and has just one goal. He'll move up to Aleksander Barkov's defensively responsible top line, while the red-hot Evan Rodrigues (series-high four goals) will skate alongside Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, who should be flying after his best effort of the series. Florida Panthers projected Game 6 line up: Verhaeghe - Barkov - Reinhart Rodrigues - Bennett - Tkachuk Luostarinen - Lundell - Tarasenko Lomberg - Stenlund - Cousins Forsling - Ekblad Mikkola - Montour Ekman-Larsson - Kulikov Bobrovsky starts Stolarz
Justin Bourne SPORTSNET
By the time you get to Game 6 of a playoff series, few surprises await on either side of the puck. Neither team has been hiding some secret weapon that would help them win every shift, we know how the coaches prefer to match up against one another, and it’s basically a battle of who plays well on any given night, who’s healthy, and who gets the bounces.
The Hockey Gods shall have their say yet. Of all the factors listed above, the only one within control of the players is “who plays well on any given night,” which means that at this stage of the series, pressure becomes a legitimate factor. Legacies are at stake, the coaches and players know it, and that can be arresting. Pressure has been a part of the story of Edmonton’s comeback. Down 0-3, the Oilers were as written off as I can remember any team being in a Cup Final. Not because anyone thinks they’re a bad team, but come on, said just about everyone: the Florida Panthers have been the most effective team in the league for the past 18 months, and they’re built for the playoffs. Their goaltending had been rock solid and they were relatively healthy, so you’d be forgiven for saying they weren’t suddenly about to lose four straight playoff games against a team they just beat three times. And with that, the pressure was off Team McDavid. The series was already over, right? There was nothing left to do but let the Panthers unceremoniously finish the job. Whatever the total forces were that led to that Oilers 8-1 shellacking of the Cats -- their desperate push, the Panthers taking their foot off the gas, luck, whatever -- a lack of pressure on the Oilers seemed to free them up to just throw what they had at their opponent and let the chips fall where they may. Adding to that pressure for the Panthers: the looming reality that the Oilers have gone on absolute tears after losing three in a row, as has been well publicised.
But also looming, and far less discussed, was that the Panthers have sometimes inexplicably gone ice cold. They lost four straight between January 13 and January 19 of this year. They lost four straight games again between March 13 and March 24 of this year. (They salvaged a few loser points in those OT/SO losses, but that doesn’t exist in the playoffs.) So, you have Paul Maurice weighing in on the topic now that the Panthers are up just 3-2, saying: "You're going to think I'm lying to you: I'm more comfortable. I understand the feeling of 3-2 because most series are like that; 3-0 is more of an aberration, isn't it? Pressure … I think we think about these things possibly differently and I'm not sure I would agree with the assessment that the pressure has shifted so heavily to us." As much as that last part seems like a savvy coaching ploy to hopefully deflect some pressure to Edmonton, the reality is, the weight of the pressure has shifted somewhat, and remains a factor to keep an eye on. The narrative going into Game 5 was “If Edmonton wins, this series is going seven.” It would’ve been tough to find someone who’d disagree with that, at least here in Canada. Everyone saw the display Oilers fans put on with their backs against the wall in Game 4, and was awed by it. Their fans didn’t wither, roll over and just expect to lose – they fought and did their part. They were capital-L Loud from the jump, the Moss Pit was packed, and the Oilers seemed spurred on by it all. Now, you’re going to get that again from the fans in Game 6. Nerves and pressure can easily take the form of noise and chaos. The only slight difference is, this time Edmonton is supposed to win. By the narrative out there, by the betting odds, by just about any way you slice it, this is the presumed win that came with “If they get it to Game 6, it’s going seven.” And with that, there are reasons to be moderately uncomfortable. Matthew Tkachuk woke up like the Undertaker after scoring the Panthers' first goal in Game 5, and for a team that’s light on elite, top-end talent, that’s big for them. They seem relatively healthy, and they’re a team that has played in these big Cup Final moments before, as recently as last year. The Oilers are now asked to put on a show in front of millions who are expecting one, which to Paul Maurice’s point, might slide at least a little of the pressure on to the Oilers' plate. When we talk pressure, we’re talking about a one per cent difference in the performance of certain players that’s mostly unmeasurable and usually unnoticeable. It’s still the big things that will matter most on Friday night -- how do the goalies play, how is the game called, how do the bounces fall, and so on. There is rarely one clear moment that can be chalked up to pressure, but to me it freezes people up so there’s the absence of greatness. There’s a quietness in moments where you’re awaiting some profound breakthrough to happen, and it just never comes. As we’ve seen over the past two days, the World’s Best Hockey Player Connor McDavid has been anything but quiet; he’s been extraordinary. It was the difference in Game 5, cut and dried, full stop. He’s almost certainly locked up the playoff MVP regardless of which team wins the series. Can he do it again? Most of Florida’s best players -- namely Aleksander Barkov, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Sam Reinhart -- got real quiet as the pressure built on top of them. Will it affect Edmonton’s clearly great players, whether McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, or even Zach Hyman? Will Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deliver great moments to push this thing to seven? Despite two teams residing nearly a continent apart, for a while this series looked like a walk. But with pressure shifting like tectonic plates under the skates of the world’s best, it seems there’s many miles left to be travelled. Pressure is where those plates push up against one another, as they will again Friday night. If the Oilers release it by coming out on top yet again, best believe all of Canada will feel the earthquake.
TSN.ca Staff
The Washington Capitals have acquired Blanche "Pierre-Luc" Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
The deal is one for one with no salary retention. Dubois recently completed the first season of an eight-year, $68 million contract with an average annual value of $8.5 million he signed with the Kings on June 27, 2023. The 25-year-old posted 16 goals and 40 points in 82 games in his first season with the Kings. He finished the year minus-9 while averaging 15:42 of ice time, the eighth-most among forwards. He added one goal in five playoff games. Drafted third over all by the Columbus Blue Jackets at the 2016 NHL Draft, Dubois spent three seasons in Columbus before being dealt to the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 23, 2021 in exchange for Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic. He was traded again to the Kings in June 2023 for Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Rasmus Kupari, and a 2024 second-round pick. Kuemper, 34, had a 13-14-3 record last season with a .890 save percentage and 3.31 goals-against average. The 6-foot-5 netminder is on the third season of a five-year, $26.25 million contract with an annual cap hit of $5.25 million. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2026-27 season. Drafted 161st over all by the Minnesota Wild in 2009, Kuemper has a career 178-135-46 record with a .914 save percentage and 2.61 GAA split between the Wild, Los Angeles Kings, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, and Capitals. Kuemper helped the Avalanche win their first Stanley Cup in 21 years in 2022 by registering a 10-4 record with a .902 save percentage and 2.57 GAA during their playoff run. The Calgary Flames traded goaltender Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, retaining 31 per cent of his $6 million cap hit to complete the deal. Defenceman Kevin Bahl and a 2025 first-round pick, which is top-10 protected, are headed back to Calgary in the deal. The Flames, who are without their own first-round pick in 2025, now have six first-round selections over the next three drafts. Bahl, 23, had one goal and 11 points in 82 games with the Devils this season. A second round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in 2018, Bahl is signed through next season at a cap hit of $1.05 million ahead of restricted free agency in 2025. Markstrom waived his no-trade clause for the move. He is entering the fifth year of a six-year, $30 million deal, but will count for $4.125 million against the Devils cap after the retention by the Flames. He remains scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2025-26 campaign. The 34-year-old netminder finished this season with a 23-23-2 record with a .905 save percentage and a 2.78 goals-against average. He posted a career-best .922 save percentage in 2021-22 before experiencing a significant dip with a .892 mark last year. The move ends months of speculation dating back to before the trade deadline, when the Flames and Devils reportedly discussing a Markstrom trade, but couldn't reach a deal. TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reported in March that one hold up in a trade was the Flames unwillingness to retain salary on Markstrom. The Devils were ultimately forced to turn elsewhere, acquiring Jake Allen from the Montreal Canadiens and also sending Vitek Vanecek to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for fellow netminder Kaapo Kahkonen. Allen remains under contract for next season at a cap hit of $1.925 million after the Canadiens retained half of his salary. Kahkonen is slated for unrestricted free agency. Darren Dreger reports Markstrom allowed the Flames to expand trade discussions to other clubs this month, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators among those to show interest. In the end, though, the Devils made the best offer for his services.
"Today’s trade demonstrates our focus on the infusion of young talented players into our roster as well as acquiring important draft capital, while maintaining our commitment as a playoff competitive team,” said Flames general manager Craig Conroy said in a release. "We thank Jacob for his professionalism and understanding of our decision to make this trade now and at this stage in his career." Markstrom played four seasons with the Flames with his best year coming in 2021-22 were he went 37-15-9 with a .922 save percentage and 2.22 GAA. He finished second in Vezina Trophy voting that season. Drafted 31st overall by the Florida Panthers in 2008, Markstrom has a career 215-196-57 record with a .909 save percentage and 2.73 GAA. The Gavle, Sweden, native represented his country four times at the World Championship, taking home a gold medal in 2013 and a bronze medal in 2010. He also represented Sweden at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, taking home a bronze medal.
Nick Ransom
BBC Sport journalist
YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!
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Kylian Mbappe returned to France training on Wednesday, after breaking his nose against Austria in their opening Euro 2024 game.
The 25-year-old was pictured wearing a protective bandage during the session and initially trained alone. It remains unclear whether the French captain will be able to play their second group match against the Netherlands in Leipzig on Friday. The French Football Federation (FFF) previously said another update on Mbappe's fitness would be issued on Wednesday. The forward was substituted against Austria after colliding with defender Kevin Danso's shoulder following an aerial challenge. The break was confirmed at Dusseldorf hospital, before Mbappe rejoined his team-mates in camp. A protective mask would be made for Mbappe, the FFF added. He was booked following the incident for returning to the pitch and sitting down, consequently halting the game. Austrian Danso, 25, said on X after the game that he wished Mbappe a "good recovery" and was sorry he was injured. The French star recently signed for Real Madrid, with his Paris St-Germain contract expiring this summer. France's final group game against Poland takes place on Tuesday. |
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