Milestones, Stellar Play, A Rare Rematch and More

I love this time of year for sports. We have NHL, NBA, NLL and PWHL playoffs, MLB is two months into the season, we’ve had two Golf majors, the Indy 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix raced this past weekend and the CFL is starting.

Everything is happening, including a potential Stanley Cup Final rematch.

1. The Florida Panthers will be making their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearance. That series isn’t officially over yet, but Carolina is not winning four in a row. Zero chance. Florida will become the seventh team (since 1967 expansion) to make the Final three years in a row.

The NY Islanders (1980-1984) won four in a row and then lost the fifth year to Edmonton.
Montreal Canadiens (1976-1979) won four in a row.
The St. Louis Blues lost three in a row (1968-1970). The NHL oddly had all six expansion teams in one division for those three years. Blues never won one game in the Cup Final those three years.
The 1974-1976 Philadelphia Flyers won their first two years and lost in the third.
The 1983-1985 Edmonton Oilers lost their first year before winning the next two seasons.
The 2020-2022 Tampa Bay Lighting won the first two years before losing to Colorado.
The 2023-2025 Florida Panthers. They lost in 2023, won last year, and this year is TBD. But make no mistake, they will make the Final.

2. The Panthers will be there, and it is looking very likely that the Edmonton Oilers will also be returning to the Cup Final. If they do, it will mark only the third time in the last 45 NHL seasons that the same two teams will meet in the Cup Final.

In 1983 and 1984, the Islanders and Oilers met, and each team won once. And in 2008 and 2009 the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings met. Detroit won in six games in 2008, and Pittsburgh won in seven in 2009. Both times the team that lost the first year was able to rebound and win the following year. Wayne Gretzky lost in 1983 and then won in 1984. Sidney Crosby lost in 2008 and then won in 2009. Connor McDavid’s turn? Edmonton fans and the organization are hoping that the scenario repeats itself for a third time.

3. The Oilers have dominated the Dallas Stars for the majority of the first three games. Edmonton had a dreadful third period in Game 1, allowing Dallas to score five goals to overcome a 3-1 deficit. However, in the other eight periods the Oilers have outscored Dallas 12-2. Dallas has scored one goal in the first period of Game 1 and the one goal in the second period of Game 3. Dallas controlled most of the play in the second period yesterday, but Stuart Skinner was stellar, and Connor McDavid scored with 19 seconds remaining in the period so that period was even in goals. The only other period that was even was the third period of Game 2 with never team scoring, but the Oilers were protecting a 3-0 lead and didn’t press.

The only period of the series where Dallas was the better team 5×5 was the second period of Game 3. Unless the Stars can find some 5×5 scoring this series could be over quickly.

4. The NBA Eastern Conference Final has been wild. The Indiana Pacers made history in Game 1. In many ways.

— The New York Knicks led by 17 points in the fourth quarter and were up 14 points with 2:45 to play. Teams leading by 14 points with that much time left were 994-0 until the Pacers won.
— The Pacers actually trailed by nine points in the final minute. Teams were 0-1,414 in that situation, until the Pacers miracle comeback.
— Aaron Nesmith was the first player in NBA history to hit six three-pointers in the fourth quarter of a playoff game.
— Tyrese Haliburton tied the game with a buzzer beater, and then the Pacers outscored the Knicks 13-10 in OT to win 138-135. It was a wild game.

But yesterday it was the Knicks turn for a miracle comeback. In Game 3tThe Knicks trailed by 20 points late in the first half but stormed back to win 106-100. It was their third victory this postseason when trailing by 20+ points. The best part of sports is how unpredictable they can be. Since 1997 teams are 4-1,702 when trailing by 7+ points in the final minute. The Pacers have THREE of those wins this year. It’s bananas.

5. And tonight is Game 4 of the OKC/MIN series. Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the MVP this season for the Thunder. His teammate, and fellow Canadian, Lou Dort, was named to the NBA’s all-defensive team last week. I’m cheering hard for the Thunder and considering how lopsided the Panthers/Hurricanes series has been, I’ll be watching more of the Thunder game tonight.

6. The Oilers are 10-2 in their last 12 playoff games, and have dominated L.A., Vegas and Dallas by outscoring them 48-29. What is odd, is that because so many players are producing, it is almost overshadowing how productive their top players have been. The Oilers have eight players with 4+ goals in the last 12 games. That is a 27-goal pace in an 82-game season. A total of 68 players scored 27+ goals in the regular season and Tampa Bay had the most with five. The Oilers had two in Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman, but the Oilers are getting excellent production from many players right now. Evan Bouchard leads with six goals in the 12 games, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor Brown have five while McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, Corey Perry and Evander Kane each have four goals.

McDavid leads the NHL playoffs with 22 points while Draisaitl is tied with Mikko Rantanen for second with 21. Draisaitl is averaging 1.50 points/game, which is higher than the 1.46 he averaged prior to this year. McDavid averaged 1.58 points/game in his first 74 games and this year he’s at 1.57 in 14 games. They rank third and fourth all-timer (minimum 50 playoff games) in points per game at 1.58 for McDavid and 1.47 for Draisaitl, yet much of the talk isn’t about them. It is a bit odd, because we are witnessing some of the greatest playoff production all-time from players, but it is getting overshadowed by how well the rest of the team is playing. It is a good thing, but still odd.

7. Just look at where McDavid ranks all-time in playoff points. He passed Patrick Kane, who was an unreal playoff producer, last night.