NHL 2023-2024: Stanley Cup Finals. Edmonton Oilers vs Florida Panthers

[ytserush]

As we celebrate annually- Happy Rangers Elimination Day!

[gmillerdrake]

I thought for sure that series was going 7 games. But NY just got outplayed…..Shesterkin was amazing.

Kudos to the Panthers.



And it’s great watching Mikkola play solid, heavy Defense for Florida because the Blues had no space for him being saddled with that waste of space Krug and has beens Leddy and Scannella. Why would you want a young, big….tough reliable D man anyway?

[TheCountOfNYC]

WARNING. Some heavy topics are coming in this post, with some personal life details that I’m yet to disclose on this forum until now.

I’ve avoided this thread all year because I’ve been so invested in this team that I didn’t want to jinx anything, but now that the Rangers season is officially over, I’ll share my feelings, and the prevailing one is heartbreak, this year especially, because this season was so much more personal.

Hockey has always been the family sport, with the Rangers being the only team that my entire family roots for, with football and baseball being split and basketball being a non-factor. That love of the Rangers was driven by my grandfather, a lifelong Rangers fan who fell in love with the team and the sport after his beloved Dodgers left Brooklyn for LA and he abandoned baseball. The joy my family felt in 1994 when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup was tremendous, or at least so I was told, as I was an infant in June of 1994. They got close a few times during my conscious lifetime, but I never got to share the joy of a championship with my grandfather…

…and I never will. He unfortunately passed away this last January after a brief battle with illness. His family and the Rangers were his whole life, so much so that, per his request, he was buried in his Eddie Giacomin jersey, and his nine grandchildren all wore Rangers jerseys as we walked his casket down the aisle in church. We were all huge Rangers fans before, but his death made us rally around this team, who looked like the best Rangers team since that championship run in 94. World events that called back to 1994 made it feel like this was a team of destiny, and even though I’m an atheist, even I felt like my grandfather was helping his team from up above when Kreider scored the natural hat trick to send this team to the conference finals. Love makes you think crazy things.

Watching that clock count down to zero felt like getting shot in the knee. This playoff run made me feel like he was still here in spirit, and the potential for a championship gave my family something to smile about after the most heartbreaking experience of our lives. The Rangers meant so much to him. Their elimination felt like losing him all over again. A championship would have meant so much to me and my family. It would have been a final goodbye and thank you for everything to him, and a way to truly begin the healing process. Instead, I’m left feeling empty. Feeling guilty about mistakes I made in his final weeks. I’m used to heartbreak as a sports fan, I’m also diehard New York Jets fan after all, but this one, this one’s different, and it’s gonna take me a very long time to get over it.

[pg1067]

I've missed most of this week's games, but I got to see the second half (roughly) of the Panthers/Rangers game.  The Panthers look like a team on a mission.  The SCF will be a lot of fun - regardless of which team wins the west.

[jingle.boy]

So sorry for your loss, Count. That was a very moving post.

[gmillerdrake]

So sorry for your loss, Count. That was a very moving post.

Same……sports and their teams have a unique way of tying us together. That’s a touching story and post…..big internet hug to you.

[TAC]

Yeah Count, I feel ya. My grandfather died when I was 13, and he ingrained the love of hockey in me. I remember sleeping over there and watching so many games with him. Bobby Orr was literally his hero.
I can still watch the Bruins today and hear him.

[TAC]

What in the hell did Jackie Redmond do to her face? Did she have a facelift?

[KevShmev]

I've thought since early in the series that Rangers/Panthers seems destined for triple OT in Game 7, so the Rangers will obviously win tomorrow now, right?

See, this is why I mostly stopped betting on sports in my 20s.

[DTwwbwMP]

Wanted to wait a day before posting my Rangers thoughts. Instead of a long, boring story, I'll stick to points...
1. It was a GREAT regular season. Went to 4 games (3-1).
2. First two rounds of playoffs (even after the Carolina scare) gave me great hope.
3. We were COMPLETELY DOMINATED by the Florida Panthers in round 3. If not for the GREAT play of IGOR, we SHOULD'VE been SWEPT!
After series thoughts:
3.1 Laviolette WAS outcoached by Maurice.
3.2 Miller is NOTHING but a TURNOVER machine!
3.3 Trouba might as well have been wearing a Panthers Jersey! He did more for them.
3.4 Other than LaFranniere, Goodrow, Trochek, Lindgren and of course, Igor....WTF??
Final thoughts:
4. Changes MUST BE MADE! I LOVE this team, and have been a die-hard fan since 1969 and its been 56 years with 1 CUP! Lots of great years, lots of close calls, lots of great players, but 1 CUP! If not for salary cap constraints, and BIG  contracts with no move clauses, it will be difficult to find the right pieces needed to get the holy grail, but it CAN be done!
4.1 Trade Miller & Kakko and take whatever draft picks you can get. The dumping of a combined $8 or $9 million is enough of a return. UNLESS, they can somehow turn Miller BACK into a forward (he played forward in college some). He is a HORRIBLE defenseman, who refuses to use his body and relies solely on his stick to defend, and as mentioned earlier, a turnover machine!
4.2 ABSOLUTELY MUST buy out Trouba. He is nothing but a liability.
4.3 This is the tough one. Either, Zibanejad of Panarin has to be traded for a more physical Center/LW. It hurts to even type this, as I love them both, but 3 years in a row of playoff ineptness when it counts from both is enough.
4.4 Along with young guys making an impact next year like Brennan Othman, Adam Sykora and Zac Jones (among others), I'd really like to see F/A or trade additions such as Jake DeBrusk & Brady Tkaczuk be brought in!

All in all a great season that ended in disappointment by losing to simply a better Florida Panther team.

[TAC]

Replacing Zabinejad or Paneran with Debrusk would be a bad move. Especially Zabinejad. You'd be going backwards.

[Anguyen92]

I don't think people expected the Oilers to win this Game 6, 2-1, and had only 10 shots on goal while getting pelted with 35+ shots.  Oddly enough, I think for the most part, the Oilers were more than content letting the clock drop after it was 2-0 and quite frankly, they clamped down on the Stars hard.  No big threatening chances for the Stars for the most part.

Oilers/Panthers final.  There's going to be a lot of juicy narratives here.

[SchecterShredder]

The story of this series is going to be special teams, and specifically how Dallas' special teams were left behind in Colorado. Zero power play goals for. One shorty against. And while they did limit the Oil's PP, they still allowed 2 PP goals in each of the last 2 losses. Ottinger's play also  declined heavily throughout the series.

Bring on the Panthers. They're going to be tough,  but i like the Oilers' chances. To quote Draisaitl: " Our best can beat anyone's best if we can sustain it".

[gmillerdrake]

Congrats to the Oil faithful in here.....that had to feel great!!!!


I would have never thought that Skinner would outperform Ottinger but that's basically what it came down to...Skinner basically stole two games for the Oil and that did the trick. Add in the Oil getting the better of special teams, Ottinger playing 'average'....and well....you get what you got there.

The Finals are going to be fun to watch. You can make a case for each team to have the advantage. Skinner is going to have to stay sharp and stay on that level and the Panthers are going to have to stay out of the box.

[Stadler]

WARNING. Some heavy topics are coming in this post, with some personal life details that I’m yet to disclose on this forum until now.

I’ve avoided this thread all year because I’ve been so invested in this team that I didn’t want to jinx anything, but now that the Rangers season is officially over, I’ll share my feelings, and the prevailing one is heartbreak, this year especially, because this season was so much more personal.

Hockey has always been the family sport, with the Rangers being the only team that my entire family roots for, with football and baseball being split and basketball being a non-factor. That love of the Rangers was driven by my grandfather, a lifelong Rangers fan who fell in love with the team and the sport after his beloved Dodgers left Brooklyn for LA and he abandoned baseball. The joy my family felt in 1994 when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup was tremendous, or at least so I was told, as I was an infant in June of 1994. They got close a few times during my conscious lifetime, but I never got to share the joy of a championship with my grandfather…

…and I never will. He unfortunately passed away this last January after a brief battle with illness. His family and the Rangers were his whole life, so much so that, per his request, he was buried in his Eddie Giacomin jersey, and his nine grandchildren all wore Rangers jerseys as we walked his casket down the aisle in church. We were all huge Rangers fans before, but his death made us rally around this team, who looked like the best Rangers team since that championship run in 94. World events that called back to 1994 made it feel like this was a team of destiny, and even though I’m an atheist, even I felt like my grandfather was helping his team from up above when Kreider scored the natural hat trick to send this team to the conference finals. Love makes you think crazy things.

Watching that clock count down to zero felt like getting shot in the knee. This playoff run made me feel like he was still here in spirit, and the potential for a championship gave my family something to smile about after the most heartbreaking experience of our lives. The Rangers meant so much to him. Their elimination felt like losing him all over again. A championship would have meant so much to me and my family. It would have been a final goodbye and thank you for everything to him, and a way to truly begin the healing process. Instead, I’m left feeling empty. Feeling guilty about mistakes I made in his final weeks. I’m used to heartbreak as a sports fan, I’m also diehard New York Jets fan after all, but this one, this one’s different, and it’s gonna take me a very long time to get over it.

Really moving post.  My heart bleeds for you. 

We believe different things, so I don't have much to offer you except what I would say in any event: the Rangers losing doesn't minimize those other moments.  The fam wearing their Rangers jerseys in memoriam had me in tears, and that doesn't change.   Remember the good times, remember the love and his spirit.   That's what matters. 

[billboy73]

The Oilers closing out the series in that fashion was crazy!  Score 2 PP goals and depend on Skinner to make a bunch of saves is not how I would have predicted an Oilers win, but they were able to make it happen.  The crowd was electric in that arena all game!  I hate waiting till June 8 to get this series started, but I am definitely interested to watch it.

[Stadler]

Replacing Zabinejad or Paneran with Debrusk would be a bad move. Especially Zabinejad. You'd be going backwards.

HAHAHA, I was telling my stepson the other night, I'd take Zabinejad on the Bruins in a HEARTBEAT. He's not their answer, we still need a top 6 center, but he'd play over every offensive player they have now (except for Marchand, Zacha, Pastrnak, and maybe Geekie, but only because Geekie is a very different kind of player). 

[Stadler]

I was disappointed in the Rangers' turnout in that series, but on the same token, you'd be hard pressed to find a team that has risen so consistently in the playoffs than the Panthers.  I don't like those guys - I think Tkachuk is a baby, and Montour... I can't really articulate it all that well, but I just want to punch him in the face - but I LOVE Paul Maurice, and he's got his team doing everything right.  I don't think Bobs outplayed Shesterkin, but I think Jingle is right, that the gap wasn't as big as some made it out to be.  it's just that the gap between the TEAMS was bigger than it should have been at that level of the playoffs.

From what I've seen, and taking the teams on their play over the last two series, I see the Panthers winning this in six.   I know Dreiseitl is better than anyone else on the ice here (yeah, I said it; I think McDavid has otherworldly skills, but I don't see him as the best PLAYER on the ice) but after that, the Panthers are three lines deep and are RELENTLESS (I think I've said that before).

[gmillerdrake]

From what I've seen, and taking the teams on their play over the last two series, I see the Panthers winning this in six.   I know Dreiseitl is better than anyone else on the ice here (yeah, I said it; I think McDavid has otherworldly skills, but I don't see him as the best PLAYER on the ice) but after that, the Panthers are three lines deep and are RELENTLESS (I think I've said that before).

A big 'IF' is......if the Panthers pepper Skinner like they did Shesterkin....I just don't see Skinner being able to perform and keep the Oil in it like Shesterkin did for NY. While Dallas did outshoot the Oil and Skinner came up big....they weren't impossible saves. Shesterkin made probably a dozen or more 'impossible' saves that kept the Rangers in games and allowed them to steal the OT games.

I think the Panthers have a more complete team and expect them to win but....you have to play the games. You can't discount the run the Oil have made and what players in a locker room will do for one another to win.

[Stadler]

A big 'IF' is......if the Panthers pepper Skinner like they did Shesterkin....I just don't see Skinner being able to perform and keep the Oil in it like Shesterkin did for NY. While Dallas did outshoot the Oil and Skinner came up big....they weren't impossible saves. Shesterkin made probably a dozen or more 'impossible' saves that kept the Rangers in games and allowed them to steal the OT games.

I think the Panthers have a more complete team and expect them to win but....you have to play the games. You can't discount the run the Oil have made and what players in a locker room will do for one another to win.

100%.  I thought the Rangers were the team to beat after the 'Canes series, so there's that, and I thought the Oil was vulnerable after the Vancouver series, so like Kev said, this is why I haven't gambled since college. 

[TAC]

I haven't gambled since I put $5 on Gerry Cooney vs Larry Holmes when I was in Junior High.

[cramx3]

Wild to see how far away these two teams actually are from each other.  Apparently that's the reasoning for more spacing between the games coming up.

[jingle.boy]

Wild to see how far away these two teams actually are from each other.  Apparently that's the reasoning for more spacing between the games coming up.

Geographical, it’s the furthest distance between cities ever for the Cup finals. I’m not sure if LA/Mtl or Van/Bos was further.

[DTwwbwMP]

I was disappointed in the Rangers' turnout in that series, but on the same token, you'd be hard pressed to find a team that has risen so consistently in the playoffs than the Panthers.  the gap wasn't as big as some made it out to be.  it's just that the gap between the TEAMS was bigger than it should have been at that level of the playoffs.

The "gap" unfortunately WAS HUGE and ONLY IGOR kept the scores close.

[DTwwbwMP]

While I'm just too bummed to watch, I'll be pulling hard for the Oilers. Edmonton fans are awesome and don't come to their games in shorts and flip flops....sorry Florida fans, that's NOT hockey apparel! LOL