You’d be mad too if the team you ran was so close to winning a Stanley Cup … but now that team lost a tight Game 5 and has to go back to Canada in an attempt to clinch in a must-win game on the road.
That was the situation with Florida Panthers GM Bill Zito, who watched as Connor McDavid scored an empty-netter to clinch a win in Game 5 and send the Edmonton Oilers back to Canada for a Game 6 in the series that has suddenly become intriguing.
Then, Zito took a water bottle and chucked it in anger, summing it all up:
Edmonton Oilers superstar center Connor McDavid made one of the sharpest moves of his career on Tuesday night to set up teammate Corey Perry for a goal during Game 5 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
McDavid navigated staunch defense from the Florida Panthers to weave his way down the ice and set up Perry for the goal with an absolutely outrageous assist in front of the net.
When people talk about McDavid as an all-time talent down the road, this is one of the plays that’s going to come up in his career highlight reel.
It just shows what a generational distributor of the puck he is outside of his excellent scoring prowess.
For Edmonton fans, this is the kind of play you’ll want plenty more of in the years to come.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate you giving us some of your time.
I’m not the type of person who goes around telling people they should be thanking me for the good things I do for them. That’s buffoonery.
However, I do feel like I may have played a small role in preventing the Mavericks and Oilers from getting swept over the weekend in their respective championship matchups.
Okay, let’s be serious. Friday’s Morning Win had nothing to do with any of the action on the ice or the court. Is it possible that someone on the Mavericks staff showed Luka Doncic our email on Friday to get a little motivation cooking? Maybe! Connor McDavid might be a subscriber, too! That’d be cool.
But, look. Neither team needed to look around the internet for much motivation to show up in their respective Game 4s. It was do or die for the Oilers and Mavs and they both chose not to go out in the worst way possible: By the broom. You’ve got to respect that.
That said, don’t make the mistake of finding hope in either of their blowout Game 4 wins. Both of these series are still likely over.
No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a series. Plenty of teams have come close (including last year’s Boston Celtics), but in the end, it always proves to be too much to overcome.
The NHL is a bit different. Four teams have completed 3-0 comebacks in the league’s history, with the last one being the Los Angeles Kings in 2014. The last time it happened in a Stanley Cup Final was back in 1942. Anything is possible, sure. But this is a lot to overcome.
I’m not telling you not to root for the comeback — if that’s the sliver of hope you’re holding onto, don’t let it go! What I’m saying is it probably isn’t going to happen. So maybe keep that hope at just a sliver for now.
Caitlin Clark doesn’t care about the Angel Reese foul and neither should you
(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
Ah, yes. The Caitlin Clark discourse has returned for the third week in a row. Huzzah.
A hard foul on Clark from Angel Reese has the internet buzzing about assault on the basketball court again. The reaction so far has been completely ridiculous. You’ve got people who’ve never talked about the WNBA before suddenly chiming in on the situation as if they’re experts.
But here’s the thing: Caitlin Clark doesn’t care about this. So why should we? Here’s Andrew Joseph with more on her reaction:
“But despite the hard foul, Clark had no animosity towards Reese about the contact. She knew it was an attempt on the ball, and that sort of thing happens in basketball.
“It’s just a part of basketball,” Clark said.
When asked about the rivalry between the two players, Clark went on to say that it showcases their passion — something that is great for women’s sports.”
That’s kind of where I feel like we should leave it. Well, let me speak for myself. That’s certainly where I’m leaving it. We are not spending a week discussing the discourse on a flagrant foul on TMW. Not again.
It’s basketball, folks. Let’s leave it at that.
The U.S. Open crown is Bryson’s again
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
There was a time when I thought Bryson DeChambeau would never be able to play in a major again after he jumped ship for LIV Golf.
Here he is, two years later, under the umbrella of the controversial LIV-PGA fusion, winning one of the most prestigious golf tournaments again.
Time is so weird, isn’t it?
What a win it was. Rory McIlroy looked like he had things in the bag but then totally (and uncharacteristically) collapsed. He had a two-stroke lead on Bryson heading into the 15th hole. He finished with three bogeys through the final four holes, which led to DeChambeau’s win.
I don’t know whether I feel great for Bryson or terrible for Rory. All I know is we got some exciting golf on Sunday. That’s all we were all asking for.
Quick hits: Elly De La Cruz is the best show in baseball … Matt Leinart, please go away … and more
— Elly De La Cruz can only be described as electrifying. Watch him score from second base here. Andrew Joseph has more.
The Edmonton Oilers are still alive in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, and superstar Connor McDavid is a big reason why.
The electric center scored the first goal of this Stanely Cup series on Saturday night during Game 4 in front of the Edmonton crowd.
He also managed to set a new record for assists during a single NHL postseason with 32, passing Oilers legend Wayne Gretzky’s 31 assists on the leaderboard.
Edmonton’s 8-1 victory over the Florida Panthers saved the Oilers from elimination, and getting to see more playoff hockey from McDavid is a win for us all. Seeing so much happen for him in a night is just icing on the cake.
While the Panthers still have very good odds of winning it all with the series headed back to Florida, McDavid and the Oilers can point to Saturday night as proof enough that they can still hang in there and make this competitive.
Warren Foegele wanted to channel the Mamba ahead of Game 4.
Edmonton Oilers forward Warren Foegele made the most unlikely Kobe Bryant tribute ahead of Saturday’s Game 4 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
With the Oilers entering an elimination game, Foegele needed all the good vibes he could muster to help get his team’s first win of the championship series.
In order to add a spark to his game, he wore a shirt that featured a photo of Bryant wearing a Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers jersey on it.
That’s a heck of a way to motivate yourself to play some hockey and pay tribute to an all-time athlete in the process, as honoring Bryant rocking your team’s jersey (your team’s all-time best player at that) has to get your blood pumping in the best way possible.
Warren Foegele walking in wearing a shirt with the picture of Kobe wearing a Gretzky Oilers jersey 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/sbckdyxlCc
Good morning, folks! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. I appreciate you! I hope you’ve had a great week. Happy Friday.
Folks, after the Panthers’ 4-3 Game 3 win over the Oilers on Thursday night, we might be in for a little bit of history. Granted, it’s the wrong type of history you want to see this time of year. But it is a chance for history, nonetheless!
We’re staring down the barrel at two potential sweeps in both the NHL and the NBA.
We’ve got a 3-0 Stanley Cup Finals and a 3-0 NBA Finals that could be settled tonight when the Mavericks see the Celtics on their home floor for Game 4.
This is the worst combination of Finals between these two leagues we’ve had in decades.
Neither of these series are over at this point. While a 3-0 comeback has never happened in the NBA’s history, plenty of teams have come close. And 3-0 comebacks have happened a handful of times in the NHL, too, with the last time coming in 2014 with the Los Angeles Kings. It’s not likely it’ll happen here, but it’s not impossible either.
We need a miracle, folks. Maybe the sports gods will look out for us. If not? We’re in for one of the most boring combinations of Finals we’ve ever seen.
The US Women’s National Team has always been at the pinnacle of the sport. Since FIFA started ranking women’s soccer teams in 2003, the team had never been ranked lower than No. 2 in the world before 2024.
Today? USWNT ranks 5th in the world — its lowest ranking ever. The team continues its free fall after its disappointing World Cup loss to Sweden in 2023. Germany moved up a spot to eclipse the U.S. at No. 4. Ahead of it are Spain (No. 1), France (No. 2) and England (No. 3).
The team hasn’t done much losing since its loss to Chile in October at the Pan American games. Since then, USWNT has won the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the SheBelieves Cup under new manager, Emma Hayes. It hasn’t been enough to get back to No. 1 status, but it seems the turnaround is in progress.
USWNT will have another chance to prove itself on the world stage at the Olympics in July. Can’t wait.
Caitlin Clark speaks out
Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
There are plenty of true fans of Caitlin Clark out there, but there are also plenty of people who have been using her name online to fight their problematic crusades all in the name of tearing down women’s sports.
Clark was asked about it directly yesterday twice. First, by The Athletic’s Jim Trotter, who asked Clark how she feels about people using her name in their personal “culture wars.” She mostly brushed that question off, emphasizing her focus on basketball.
But then, she was asked again about this by The Athletic’s James Boyd. Except, this time, she was asked specifically about her name being used to push misogynistic and hateful views. Clark had much more to say this time:
“It’s disappointing,” Clark said. “Everybody in our world deserves the same amount of respect. The women in our league deserve the same amount of respect. So, people should not be using my name to push those agendas.”
“Clark’s words will hopefully ring true throughout the wider discourse and show what side she’s on when her name gets dragged into larger conversations about pertinent issues of race and gender.
As WNBA player-turned-ESPN commentator Chiney Ogwumike mentioned this week, the weaponization of league narratives surrounding Clark and other players is taking away from ‘the beauty of the game,’.”
Couldn’t agree more. I didn’t expect Clark to speak on any of this, but it’s nice that she did. Hopefully, now that she has, some of the foolishness surrounding her will stop.
The Edmonton boos didn’t seem to bother Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice.
The Edmonton Oilers weren’t too thrilled to host the Florida Panthers on Thursday night as the 2024 Stanley Cup entered Game 3 with Florida holding a 2-0 series lead.
The Oilers fans in attendance for the night’s home game gave the Panthers a healthy dose of boos before the game, and Panthers coach Paul Maurice didn’t seem to mind all the jeers for his hockey club.
Maurice waved at the hostile Edmonton fans and said, “thank you,” which is just the best and most hilarious way to silence the boo birds.
The Stanley Cup will bring out the boos for the competition every night, so you can’t help but respect Maurice for his very funny response for it.
Here’s your answer: so bad that even Edmonton air traffic controllers are out here joking with the pilots of the Florida Panthers’ charter flight, with audio that was captured and shared on social media.
The jokes: “I’ve got about a two-hour hold for you, or whatever it would take for you to be low enough on fuel that you’ll have to divert from Edmonton.”
The back-and-forth between pilots and the ATC members is kind of amusing, and there’s a Gary Bettman joke at the end there. Sit back and enjoy:
NEW: Florida Panthers pilots were jokingly told by a Canadian air traffic controller to run low on fuel so the team wouldn’t be able land in Edmonton.
Pilots from other flights join in on the conversation.
Leon Draisaitl nailed Aleksander Barkov with an elbow to the jaw in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, and clearly, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice was NOT happy.
Why would he be? Even with the Panthers up 2-0 on the Edmonton Oilers, losing Barkov — who didn’t return in the contest — for any period of time would be alarming given his prowess on both ends of the ice.
So when Maurice was asked how he felt about the very questionable hit, the notoriously funny Maurice was dead serious with his answer that was … actually kind of funny: “This isn’t the Oprah Winfrey Show. My feelings don’t matter.”
Here’s that moment and the hit:
Q: "How do you feel about the hit on Barkov?" Paul Maurice:" This isn't the Oprah Winfrey show. My feelings don't matter" pic.twitter.com/mv3JGULmdl
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) June 11, 2024
Even at 2-0… if Barkov is out for any amount of time, the Draisaitl elbow can absolutely change the complexion of this series. pic.twitter.com/iT0bFXmhEJ
— Bring Hockey Back (@BringHockeyBack) June 11, 2024
NHL fans were fuming after this knee-on-knee hit in Game 2.
The Edmonton Oilers might be without Warren Foegele for a few Stanley Cup Final games after this nasty hit.
On Monday, the Oilers took on the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, with Edmonton looking to tie the series up before it heads back to Canada. Things were sloppy and uneven in the first period, but chaos broke out at about the midway point of the frame after Foegele landed a big hit on Panthers’ forward Eetu Luostarinen.
With the Panthers just having crossed into Oilers territory, Foegele collided with Luostarinen in the middle of the ice, causing an instant scrum. Luostarinen was down on the ice for awhile but was thankfully able to get off with some help, with Foegele delivering a clearly dangerous knee-on-knee hit.
Foegele received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for the ugly hit, earning him an ejection from the game as well. A deserved punishment, but one has to wonder if NHL Player Safety will step in to deliver a suspension on top, as knee-on-knee hits are incredibly dangerous in hockey.
NHL fans, at the very least, are clamoring for Foegele to get suspended after this really bad hit on Luostarinen.
NHL fans were calling for a suspension after Warren Foegele’s knee-on-knee hit against Eetu Luostarinen
Bad hit by Foegele. Earned the 5 and a game. Don't like the way Luostarinen's knee buckled.
