Tag: Florida Panthers

Why these 6 players are the most important to watch during the 2023 Stanley Cup Final

The stars will be out during the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.

It’s safe to say no one was expecting this matchup in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.

For the first time since 2019, we’ll have a first-time Stanley Cup champion after the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers battle it out to decide the victor. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are never without surprises, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who could have predicted this matchup at the end of the day.

MORE STANLEY CUP: The 12 NHL teams that have never won a Stanley Cup.

Even still, Vegas and Florida are as star-studded as they come in this league, with playmakers up and down the lineup. The Panthers have, without a doubt, been the most fun team to follow in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with their newfound penchant for dramatic finishes. The Golden Knights, on the other hand, have been a strong — but steady — ship, even going back to the regular season.

But, if you’re a casual hockey fan tuning in for the first time these playoffs, you might be wondering which players are set to make the most impact on hockey’s biggest stage. So, to get you ready, here the six most important players you need to watch out for during the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.

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Fans laughed at Boston for making the worst kind of home Game 7 history in the same season

Everyone loves seeing Boston sports teams fail.

As a sports city, Boston has probably enjoyed more success than most with its “Big Four” teams.

Over the course of two decades to start the 21st century, the New England Patriots won six Super Bowls. The Boston Red Sox are a perennial factor in October. The Boston Bruins have been a spring fixture for years. And only the Los Angeles Lakers can match the Boston Celtics in NBA titles with 17 apiece.

So, whenever one of these squads falls short, fans from other towns naturally revel in their shortcomings. It’s the Celtics and Bruins’ latest embarrassing failures that had a lot of schadenfreude for Boston coming to the surface.

A little over a month ago, the Bruins lost a home game 7 to the eighth-seeded Florida Panthers in the NHL playoffs. With the Celtics now falling in a home Game 7 to the eighth-seeded Miami Heat, the city of Boston is the first to ever lose two home game 7s to an eight seed in the NHL and NBA … in the same season.

Woof. Absolutely brutal. (But also hilarious!)

Is it any consolation that the two teams who eliminated the Bruins and Celtics — the Florida Panthers and Miami Heat — both wound up qualifying for their league’s respective championship series?

No, no. I suppose not.

Fans on Twitter loved learning about the bottomless depths of Boston sports this spring.

3 mind-blowing ways a Penguins-Blackhawks game in April forever altered NHL history

What a ridiculous domino effect we’ll look back on for years.

At the time, when the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 in an early April affair, we thought it was a disastrous result and only for the two teams involved. But no one could have possibly predicted the domino effect of a win for one of the NHL’s worst teams over Sidney Crosby’s playoff fringe Penguins.

Sometimes, when you least expect it, a seemingly normal late-season game can mean so much to the rest of the league.

Now, with the 2023 Stanley Cup Final matchup finally almost set in stone, let’s look back at three mind-blowing ways one Penguins-Blackhawks regular season battle forever changed NHL history.

One thing seems certain: We might even look back on this game and see more butterfly-effect outcomes down the line.

See Matthew Tkachuk’s stunning last-second goal to clinch a Stanley Cup Final berth

THE PANTHERS CINDERELLA PLAYOFF RUN CONTINUES!

The Florida Panthers are going to the Stanley Cup Final and Matthew Tkachuk is — of course! — the one that got them there.

The Panthers eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday in an unthinkable sweep of the Eastern Conference Final. Game 4 seemed destined for overtime after the Hurricanes tied up the game 3-3 late in the third period. Tkachuk, however, had other plans.

With less than a minute left in the third, the Panthers were given a rare power play opportunity to put the series away. And with just 4.3 seconds remaining in the period, Tkachuk cashed in to give the Panthers the 4-3 lead and the win.

While the NHL reviewed the play, Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen was not interfered with in his attempt to save the puck.

What a goal! Once Tkachuk saw the empty net in front of him with Andersen out of position, it was all over for the Hurricanes.

With the sweep, the Panthers now advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996, marking their second overall appearance in the final round. Florida will now have to wait to see which team will be their opponent out of the West, but what an exhilarating run this has been for the Panthers!

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel got the Panthers crowd absolutely hyped ahead of Game 4

Mike McDaniel got HYPED to rally the Florida Panthers crowd with a drum.

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has never been afraid to have some fun off the field.

Ahead of Wednesday night’s Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes, McDaniel sported his custom Panthers jersey and rallied the crowd with a few bangs on the Florida drum.

McDaniel didn’t hold back on pumping up the Florida crowd by really getting into his bangs on the rally drum. The fans seemed to really respond to the the coach’s passion for the hockey team.

If the Miami gig doesn’t work out in the end, he’s got a great career as a Panthers hype man just waiting for him.

Talk about a way to get the crowd going. The Panthers have had a tremendous 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs so far, and perhaps the Dolphins will pick up on that Sunshine State momentum this fall.

At the very least, McDaniel is going to bring plenty of hype back to the Miami locker room.

Brooks Koepka’s wide-eyed look while cheering on the Panthers led to so many jokes

Koepka didn’t blink a lot when cameras were on him!

In case you don’t know, five-time golf major winner and LIV Golf member Brooks Koepka is a Florida Panthers fan.

He was there at FLA Live Arena for Game 3, a 1-0 win for the Panthers who could sweep the Carolina Hurricanes, and he brought the Wanamaker Trophy from his recent PGA Championship with him, which is quite the flex.

But after cameras caught him cheering on his favorite NHL team, fans couldn’t stop looking at something: His really wide eyes while he was clapping. Seriously, check out the video below!

Fans had so many jokes after the video was everywhere on Twitter:

NHL fans loved Matthew Tkachuk doing another instant walk-off celebration after OT game-winner

He did the walk-off again!

Matthew Tkachuk did it again.

After the star forward for the Florida Panthers scored the game-winner in quadruple (!) overtime in Game 1 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, he put in the game-winner in the first OT of Game 2 on Saturday night.

Once again, we got to see the best new celebration in the NHL playoffs: Tkachuk signaled to the team to get right off the ice immediately, a walk-off of epic proportions like he did in Game 1.

NHL fans loved it, and rightfully so. If we get to see more immediate game-winners from Tkachuk or other Panthers, I want to see a walk-off:

Matthew Tkachuk scored yet another game-winning goal for the Panthers in overtime

Matthew Tkachuk won the game AGAIN in overtime for the Panthers.

Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk is having himself a heck of a 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

After closing out one of the longest NHL games of all time with a goal against the Carolina Hurricanes in four overtimes, Tkachuk scored yet another overtime goal to get the Panthers a second-straight playoff win over Carolina on Saturday.

It’s just stunning for a player, even one as talented as Tkachuk, to score two-straight overtime goals in a playoff series.

However, that’s exactly what the Panthers star did, and now Florida heads back to the Sunshine State with a 2-0 lead over Carolina in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals. A sweep feels like a distinct possibility at this point.

Tkachuk certainly will always remember the dramatic game winner after playing in four overtimes against Carolina, but this game-winning overtime goal won’t soon be forgotten, either.

Florida fans are probably exhausted after yet another playoff game against the Hurricanes went into overtime, but Tkachuk got things done much, much earlier than he did the other night.

In the end, whether it’s one overtime session or four, the Panthers are surely glad to have Tkachuk on their side when it counts.

Matthew Tkachuk had the perfect walk-off celebration after his 4OT game-winning goal

A perfect way to celebrate scoring in the fourth overtime.

That is most certainly not a typo. The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers played in four — FOUR — overtimes on Thursday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

And it was Matthew Tkachuk who FINALLY ended the sixth-longest game in NHL history with a goal, giving the Panthers a 3-2 win and a 1-0 series lead.

But let’s focus on his celebration. As soon as he scored, he pointed toward the locker room and skated right off, a walk-off (skate-off?) celly for the ages that was just perfect.

NHL fans loved it, too. Check out the celebration from a few different angles and some reaction to it:

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NHL fans believed the Boston Bruins got struck by the Presidents’ Trophy curse after Game 7 loss

The Presidents’ Trophy Curse has struck again. This time, it hits the Boston Bruins.

The Boston Bruins are officially eliminated from the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Falling victim to the dreaded Presidents’ Trophy curse, Boston lost to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 on Sunday night, 4-3.

The loss came after a last-minute goal from Florida in the third period that sent the game into overtime, where Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe scored the game winner to send the Bruins packing. 

Boston was the clear favorite to contend for the Stanley Cup this year after its dominant regular season, but taking home the Presidents’ Trophy has tripped up plenty of hockey teams in the past.

It’s been since 2013 when the Chicago Blackhawks took home the Presidents’ Trophy and the Stanley Cup that a team has been able to win both.