Third Consecutive SC SF Series Victory
Panthers 5 – Hurricanes 3 (en) (SC SF 4-1 Florida) They did not get swept, but Carolina won just one semi-finals game in their last four appearances, and you know it was bad when a 30-something fourth line center who had not scored in the previous 14 playoff games this season scores the tying goal only 30 seconds after Florida scored on the power play.
Credit where credit is due, the defending champion Florida Panthers have 10 players with at least 10 points, an outstanding goaltender, a quiet perseverance that returned them for a third consecutive appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
Oilers vs Stars 8pm (SC SF 3-1 Edmonton)
Buffalo Winter 
I felt all along that the Florida Panthers are beatable and I still believe it even though I also feel Toronto GM Brad Treliving was bang on this morning at his end of season news conference when he said champions are calmest at the most critical times.
What really annoyed me most yesterday was what Panthers HC Paul Maurice said during post game interviews (video clips available on social media) about the handshake line. For him to ask the opponent’s HC Brind’Amour and his coaches to skip it and let only the players have the handshake line felt to me like he was trying (again) to impose his Mr-Know-It-All attitude on the game that night and on the league in its entirety. Maybe he should shoot for the Commissioner of the National Hockey League job when Gary Bettman finally retires. I really want the Panthers to lose in the Finals, which probably means they will most likely take home the the 2025 Stanley Cup.
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I believe the handshake line is a common courtesy that prevails in ice hockey and not so much in other sports, I do not see anything wrong with coaches shaking hands, good sportsmanship all around.
If HC Maurice wants to say something about just for the players, how about the Stanley Cup itself and all the people that get their name inscribed on the Cup, like last season when they added a name to the Cup after all the players names because they forgot to put the non-player, non-coach, some businessman’s name in the beginning, to me that is just insulting.
I believe in the Oilers chances, and I am pulling for them to win the Cup.
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