The Panthers defeated the Oilers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The Lakers? They only defeated themselves.
Panthers Grab 2-0 Lead
What Happened: The Florida Panthers took a page out of the Boston Celtics’ book, taking a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final behind another strong defensive performance.
Sergei Bobrovsky faced just 19 shots and stopped all but one behind a stout Florida D, while second-line wing Evan Rodrigues chipped in two goals of his own, giving him three on the series.
While the Panthers’ impressive depth is showing, Edmonton’s stars are failing to shine bright. Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard each tallied an assist on Mattias Ekholm’s goal last night, but through two games, the Oilers have a combined zero goals and two assists from McDavid, Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman.
Why It Matters: Florida has outscored Edmonton 7-1 so far in this series, and the road back looks like a long one.
Per ESPNBET, the Panthers are now -550 to hoist the Cup, while the trailing Oilers are +375 underdogs.
Bobrovsky, meanwhile, is running away in the Conn Smythe odds. He’s at -175 to be declared the playoff MVP; teammate Aleksander Barkov is way down in second at +450. If McDavid and Co. don’t figure out Bob and soon, the goaltender is going to have a couple of new pieces to add to his trophy case.
How We’re Feeling Today
Embarrassed…for the Lakers? By the Lakers? Guess it’s a combo of the two.
The storied NBA franchise has officially been spurned by Dan Hurley so he can remain in…Storrs, Connecticut. We speculated last week that if it came down to money, the Lakers would win. Well, apparently they didn’t let it get that far.
According to reports, LA’s offer to Hurley was for six years and $70 million. A nice chunk of change, but it would only make Hurley the fifth-highest paid coach in the league.
If the Lakers didn’t want to pony up more for a coach with zero NBA experience (fair!), they probably shouldn’t have chased a coach from the east coast who has been adamant he wanted to return to his Huskies program and chase a third straight national title in the first place.
Convincing Hurley to jump ship was going to require an offer meant to blow him away. The Lakers’ front office didn’t come through on that front, and now, they’ve begun their latest coaching search with a much-publicized failed pursuit.
The Look Ahead
Kutter Crawford STRIKEOUTS – Crawford has a line of five Ks today, and if we were going to play it, we’d slide in on the under. In his last four starts, Crawford has gotten exactly five punchouts and fell below that total once. But his opponent in this matchup, the Phillies, has averaged just 6.5 strikeouts as a team over its last four games. Also, Crawford has been roughed up for 17 runs over his last three starts. It’s more likely that the Phils’ lineup chases Crawford early than it is he mows them down consistently.
