NHL Stanley Cup Final Prediction
The NHL Playoffs started with 16 teams and now, only two remain. No one had the Florida Panthers making it out of the first round, let alone to the Stanley Cup Final, but here they are. They have played some excellent hockey and deserve to be here. As for the Las Vegas Golden Knights, it’s the second time in franchise history that they have made it to the finals, but unlike last time, they are looking to come home with the big prize. People may claim that the NHL isn’t a fan of two small market teams making it all the way, but to be honest, this series has the potential to go down as one of the best in history. As always, you can send your love/hate tweets to me on Twitter @fuzzychris91.
Las Vegas Golden Knights Vs. Florida Panthers
Coming into this series, the Golden Knights are favorites to win the series. They were able to make quick work of the Winnipeg Jets, they contained Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and made Jake Oettinger look like Martin Jones. For a team that played five different goalies during the regular season, they showed that a good goalie can excel in a strong, defensive system.
For Florida, it’s been one of the craziest runs we’ve seen in a long time. They came back to beat the Boston Bruins after being down 3-1 in the series, they handed Toronto another series loss and made quick work of the Carolina Hurricanes. Matthew Tkachuk has been putting on a performance since the start of the NHL Playoffs and is putting on a performance that won’t soon be forgotten. So, knowing all this, who’s going to win the Stanley Cup?
The Panthers haven’t played meaningful hockey in over ten days, but it would be foolish to think that the extra rest will harm them. They’ve heard every excuse as to why they shouldn’t win and look where that’s got them. They are a physical team that plays very well defensively. They won’t outscore their opponent by a ton, but rather, they play good team defense and wait for their chances to come.
For Vegas, they are the favorites in this series and that could actually play against them. As good as Adin Hill has been since taking over the starting job, we’ve seen him let in some soft goals. Vegas knows that they are the better team and they could become frustrated if they don’t score early on. They also come into the finals with a penalty kill operating at 63%, while the Panthers have the sixth-best power play at 27.9%. Vegas has been able to stay disciplined and not take bad penalties, but if they don’t continue to do that, Florida will capitalize on their chances.
The obvious wild card in this series is Sergei Bobrovsky. Everyone is waiting for him to regress, and to be honest, he’s due to come back down to earth slightly, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be horrible. He is playing the best hockey of his career and is clearly the best goalie in this series. The Panthers will only go as far as he can carry them, but there’s no doubt that he can steal a game or two for his team.
Florida will need to go into Vegas and win a couple of games if they want any chances of winning this series. We saw them pull off two clutch wins on the road against Carolina and they need to be just as good in this series. They don’t need to win both games on the road, but coming back to Florida with a road win will be key. It’s also important to note that even if they don’t win one of the first two games, they can still come back and win the series. We can’t count this team out at any point, but they showed the world that they are capable of doing the impossible. They just feel destined to win it all right now, so that’s where I’ll be laying my hard-earned money.
Prediction: Florida Panthers in Six Games
Player News
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It sounds like a precautionary measure. There should be an update on his status prior to Thursday’s series finale out in Los Angeles.
Kyren Paris hit a two-run homer in Wednesday’s win for the Angels over the Blue Jays.
That’s the first homer for Paris since April 9 when he went deep twice against Tampa Bay and caused everyone to lose all sense of rational thought. The 23-year-old did also single and walk to improve his on-base percentage to .311,, while the homer bumps his slugging mark to .378. There is long-term upside in Paris with flashes that suggest he can be a fantasy option. Fantasy managers should still absolutely looking elsewhere for options up the middle.
Jorge Soler hit a three-run double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Angels a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
Trent Grisham went 1-for-1 with a game-tying two-run home run in the eighth inning of a 4-3 win over the Padres on Wednesday.
While the Yankees won this game on a walk-off in the 10th inning, Grisham’s game-tying home run in the eighth was the biggest moment. He came on as a pinch-hitter for Jorbit Vibas against the usually stout Jason Adam and smashed a two-strike changeup into the right field seats. This clutch shot will only continue to push Grisham’s playing time in the right direction after he just started eight of the last 10 games, hit either first or second in each, and already has 10 homers in 31 games played this season.
Jeff Hoffman blew a save and picked up a loss Wednesday against the Angels.
Devin Williams struck out three batters with one walk and hit another in a scoreless 10th inning to earn the win against the Padres on Wednesday.
The Yankees entrusted Williams with the all important 10th inning and the inherited ghost runner on second base after their dramatic comeback. While he loaded the bases and had some tense moments, he left the inning unscathed and opened the door for them to win it right after. It should be noted that Luke Weaver came on for what were the most important outs of this game at the time, after Ian Hamilton walked two to begin the eighth inning and Weaver allowed both of those inherited runners to score. He was called upon as the fireman though and will likely get the next save opportunity. Still, this was a massive step in the right direction for Williams.