Commentary: Just Go With It

 

 

 

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Well we’ve got one finalist decided for the Stanley Cup Final. And we could find out the other tonight.

To no one’s surprise, the Florida Panthers booked a third straight appearance in the NHL’s championship series last night with a 5-3 victory at the Carolina Hurricanes.

It was one of the most incredibly dull conference finals in memory, but the Cats and their fans aren’t apologizing for that.

Oddly enough, these are tied for the highest-scoring Conference Finals on record but it just hasn’t translated to excitement on the ice.

However fans of the Oilers and Stars may disagree! Those two teams meet in Texas tonight and Edmonton can advance to the Stanley Cup Final with a win. (Shhhhh – don’t tell anyone – but I’m taking Dallas to extend the series).

That affair has actually been quite remarkable, with the Oilers falling down 0-1, then rattling off three straight wins since. However now they’re missing star Zach Hyman, who was injured in Game 4, and that could be enough to tip the scales in the Stars’ favor for at least one game.

One thing we’ll talk about on the RP Show today is the discussion point coming out of Carolina where Panthers coach Paul Maurice and Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour shook hands with only each other, not the players, at the series conclusion last night.

PoMo explained afterwards that he feels the coaches and staff shouldn’t be in the handshake line with the players. He feels the 40 players were the ones who put it all on the line for the whole series and don’t need to be shaking hands with a coach, or a trainer in a tracksuit. (i.e. Somebody whose name they don’t even know).

It’s a nice thought, and lately anything Maurice says goes viral.

But it doesn’t explain why Paul and Tampa coach Jon Cooper went through the handshake line at the end of Round 1 in Tampa, and embraced while sharing a few private words.

I was there and still have a photo of it.

But I will spend very little time thinking of that after this commentary. It’s a lot more peaceful with my new mantra, and I suggest to you joining in if you’re so inclined:

 

Just go with it.

 

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe broke a tie off a feed from Aleksander Barkov with 7:39 left and the defending champion Florida Panthers advanced to their third straight Stanley Cup Final, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 on Wednesday night in Game 5.

The Panthers beat the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final for the second time in three seasons. The Panthers will face the winner of the Western final between Dallas and Edmonton, with the Oilers up 3-1 in that best-of-seven series to put them within a win of a rematch with Florida for the Cup.

Sam Bennett added an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left by skating down a loose puck straight out of the penalty box after Florida had held up against a critical late power play for the Hurricanes.

That capped a wild night that saw the Hurricanes jump to a 2-0 lead, then Florida answer with three second-period goals, only to see Carolina’s Seth Jarvis beat Sergei Bobrovsky midway through the third to tie it at 3.

When it was over, the Panthers posed for pictures on Carolina’s home ice during the presentation of the Prince of Wales Trophy for the conference winner. Some Hurricanes fans remained defiant, offering scattered “Let’s go, Oilers!” chants.

The angst is appropriate considering how Florida has now twice ended Carolina’s push to its first Cup Final since winning the franchise’s lone title in 2006 when now-coach Rod Brind’Amour was captain.

 

 

EDMONTON – Zach Hyman’s coach and teammates had been raving about his contributions.

The grinding winger for the Edmonton Oilers wasn’t putting the puck in the net at the same rate. A combined goals 70 in the 2023-24 regular-season and playoffs is a tough act for any player to follow.

His contributions, however, weren’t going unnoticed. The heart-and-soul forward led the Stanley Cup playoffs in hits, continued to chip in offensively on the top line with superstar captain Connor McDavid, and set a workhorse-like example.

Hyman’s value to the Oilers can’t be overstated. They now have to push on without him.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch said Wednesday the 32-year-old was set have surgery and is “most likely done” for the playoffs after getting injured in Edmonton’s 4-1 victory over Dallas in Game 4 of the NHL’s Western Conference final.

Hyman was hurt midway through Tuesday’s first period when he took a glancing hit from Stars forward Mason Marchment in the neutral zone. Edmonton’s No. 18 dropped his stick and made a beeline for the locker room favouring his right arm.

The Toronto native led the post-season with 111 hits — 29 more than second-place Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers — when he was injured, to go along with five goals and six assists.

“He’s put everything out there,” said Knoblauch, who declined to add specifics on the nature of Hyman’s injury. “Scoring key goals, but the physical department, how many hits he had and his two-way play was tremendous. Now that we’re going to be missing him, we’re going to need other guys to step up.” 

Edmonton, which leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can book a second consecutive trip to the Cup final with a victory Thursday in Dallas, could pivot to veteran forwards Jeff Skinner or Derek Ryan as Hyman’s replacement on the roster.

Knoblauch sprinkled depth wingers Trent Frederic and Corey Perry on the top line alongside McDavid after Hyman went down, and also praised the contributions of Viktor Arvidsson, who entered the lineup with fellow winger Connor Brown (undisclosed) out for Game 4.

“Played the way we want him to,” Knoblauch said. “We’ll need more of that from Viktor.”

 

 

RIMOUSKI, PQ – Gardiner MacDougall had a blunt assessment of his team’s first period on Wednesday night.

“We were atrocious,” the Moncton Wildcats head coach said. “That may be, I don’t know, the worst period in Memorial Cup hockey. It would be right up there for sure.”

In a do-or-die game against the Rimouski Oceanic, the Wildcats came out flat, trailing 2-1 on the scoreboard and 17-6 in the shot count after 20 minutes.

Then they bounced back and booked their ticket to the Memorial Cup semifinal.

Gabe Smith scored two goals and had two assists in a 6-2 win. The Wildcats shifted the momentum with two goals early in the second period to take a 3-2 lead.

The key to that turnaround? A serious pep talk from their master communicator.

“(MacDougall) gave us a special talk in the room,” said Smith, who didn’t want to reveal more details. “We got a little jump in our step after that and started playing our game.

“Coach is a very special motivator, and I think he did a great job of it there. We started playing our hockey after that.”

The Wildcats will take on the London Knights in Friday’s semifinal. The winner of that matchup meets the Medicine Hat Tigers in Sunday’s final.

(Canadian Press)