Tom Mayenknecht: Stanley Cup and NBA finals roar out of the gate
Bulls of the week
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If the opening games in the NHL Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals are of any indication, then hockey and basketball fans are in for a real treat over the next two weeks. Game 1 for each delivered plenty on the entertainment meter, setting the stage for big world of mouth and heavy social media traffic going into their respective Game 2. Overtime games and one-point buzzer beaters result in the television ratings spikes that are pure joy to broadcast programmers, national sponsors, merchandisers, licensees and sports bars and restaurants across North America.
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That's exactly what we saw Wednesday in the 4-3 overtime win by the hometown Edmonton Oilers over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and Thursday in the 111-110 jaw-dropper that the Indiana Pacers laid on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Indiana overcame a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to completely change the tone and tenor of the NBA Finals, beginning with the surge in viewers that happened in the final 12 minutes. The OCT became the first NBA team in 28 post-seasons to lose a game in which they led in the last three minutes of regulation time by seven or more points. Game 1 of the NBA Finals saw Tyrese Haliburton of the Pacers outdo MVP Shai Gilgeous Alexander — the Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario. The track record this season for Gilgeous Alexander and the Thunder has been to rebound nicely from their rare losses and that could happen here, but make no mistake that there is now no more room for error by the Thunder, a consistently dominant team all year and one anchored by the professional poise of SGA.
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The biggest bull market may be lining up for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, who could become the first Canadian-based team to win the Stanley Cup in the 32 years since the Montreal Canadiens did so in 1993. The single biggest beneficiary would be the personal legacy of McDavid, already one of the stars of Canada's win at the Four Nations Face-Off in February. He needs a Cup to cement his status as an all-time great, in much the same way stars such as Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin have done over the past 40 years.
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It's one thing for Major League Baseball to have two of its franchises — the Tampa Bay Rays and the team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics — playing in minor league ballparks or spring league venues seating about 10,000 fans. It's quite another thing for the Miami Marlins to be drawing flies to their much larger ballpark in South Florida. Television images of the Marlins playing at home are not worthy of the major league designation. They're the antithesis of what you want to attract new fans, especially when stadium employees outnumber paying customers.
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Toronto Star
42 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Ageless Marchand plays hero for Panthers in Game 2 of SCF: ‘He's a beauty'
EDMONTON - Brad Marchand slipped a puck under Stuart Skinner's pad on his own rebound. That effort off the stick of the Florida Panthers winger dribbled through Edmonton's crease and touched the post before being cleared to safety. That agonizingly close call in Friday's first overtime period came after Marchand connected on a short-handed breakaway in the second period. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The 37-year-old didn't miss on his next chance. Marchand scored on another breakaway — this time in double OT — as the Panthers beat the Oilers 5-4 to even the Stanley Cup final 1-1. 'Pure excitement and adrenalin for the whole group,' he said in describing the moment before getting mobbed by teammates inside a stunned Rogers Place. 'We all knew we were one shot away … luckily it went our way.' Florida, which beat Edmonton in seven games in last year's final for the franchise's first title, recovered after Corey Perry tied the game with 17.8 seconds left in regulation. 'We've always had a very calm team,' Marchand said. 'You draw from your experiences. We do a really good job of focusing on the moment.' His ninth and 10th goals all-time in Cup final play gave him the lead among active players. Marchand's performance came exactly 14 years after he scored short-handed in the 2011 final against the Vancouver Canucks. Roberto Luongo — the opposing netminder at the time and now special adviser for the Panthers — posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter: 'Favourite player of all time.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'Lu is awesome,' said the Halifax product. 'He's an incredible person. Happy to be on the team.' Marchand was acquired from the Bruins, who were eliminated by the Panthers from the 2023 and 2024 playoffs, at the trade deadline buzzer back in March. The fit has been seamless for a player that has made plenty of enemies throughout his career. 'Brad's an honest man,' said Florida head coach Paul Maurice, whose group dropped the series opener to Edmonton 4-3 in OT. 'He loves the game. He loves the people around him. He's very open, very gregarious. He (was) completely accepted. An incredibly positive human being. He's up and down our bench all the time just pumping tires, stays in the fight. He is going to be the same way at breakfast (Saturday) morning. He's just going to be jacked, high-fiving everybody at the table.' 'He enjoys the moment,' Panthers winger Evan Rodrigues added. 'He doesn't shy away from it.' Marchand's parents were in the stands Wednesday, with his mother was caught on camera celebrating her son's heroics. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW He was asked post-game to describe Lynn Marchand as a hockey mom. 'She is one that you need to put a muzzle on,' he said to laughter from reporters. 'She gets pretty amped up at the games. They've always been so supportive. I don't think any player in this league could say that their parents are not the main reason why we're here.' Marchand, who won the Cup in 2011 and also played in the 2013 and 2019 finals, has shown no signs of slowing down at age 37 in his 16th NHL season. 'He could play till he's 47 the way he's going,' Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk said. 'Unreal player, unreal competitor.' Marchand's fifth career playoff OT goal tied Perry, Patrick Kane and Panthers teammate Carter Verhaeghe for the most among active players. The veteran forward also became the seventh player in NHL history to reach that number. 'He just finds a way,' said Florida defenceman Nate Schmidt, who had a couple of run-ins with Marchand earlier this season when he was still captaining Boston. 'I don't think it gets too big for him. He was one of our most vocal guys throughout the third and the intermissions. It doesn't seem like he ever gets too riled about it, which is something you need. 'He is a veteran presence guy that's got a ring. We're really lucky to have him.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Maurice called Marchand 'a unique human' that has found a new home as the best-of-seven series now shifts to South Florida. 'In the northern parlance,' said the coach, 'he's a beauty.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
‘That's hockey': Oilers lose capitalizing-on-chances battle, Game 2 of Stanley Cup Final to Panthers
Florida Panthers players celebrate the win as Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl (29) skates past during the second overtime period in Game 2 of the NHL Stanley Cup final in Edmonton, Friday, June 6, 2025. Somebody had to win. The defending champs did. Both the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers had their chances – and made mistakes – but the visitors made the most of theirs Friday at Rogers Place, including Brad Marchand's second breakaway goal of the night in the second overtime to lift them to a 5-4 victory and tie the Stanley Cup Final at one game apiece. 'That's hockey,' Oilers forward Corey Perry, who sent the game to extra time when he scored with 17 seconds left and Edmonton with an empty net for an extra attacker. 'We lost with 24 seconds left a couple series ago (against the Vegas Golden Knights.) Those are tough ... Yes, you can think about it, but tomorrow, you get some rest, get on the plane and get ready for Game 3. They're a good team. They're going to push to the max.' Brad Marchand scores in 2OT Florida Panthers' Brad Marchand (63) scores on Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) as Oilers' Leon Draisaitl (back right) defends during the second overtime period in Game 2 of the NHL Stanley Cup final, in Edmonton, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS) Momentum swung between the two sides, but just like in Game 1, the Oilers sagged in the second period and the Panthers – ever relentless on the forecheck – took advantage, with Marchand giving Florida a 4-3 lead at 12:09 of the second period while shorthanded. That gave the defending champions a boost and saw them dominate play the rest of the frame, although Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner once again bailed out his team and stopped eight shots in the final 7:53 of the second with the Panthers controlling play much of the time in the Oilers' end. 'We weren't as quick to recover pucks, and they're going to have their push, of course,' a contrite Leon Draisaitl told reporters in the dressing room following the game. And though the Oilers perked up in the third period to generate several scoring chances and eventually Perry's game-tying goal to force overtime, the game came down to who would get a break. Oilers vs. Panthers Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl, centre, reaches for the puck after being checked to the ice behind Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (72) as Aleksander Barkov (16) and Evan Rodrigues (17) defend during the first overtime period in Game 2 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final, in Edmonton, on Friday, June 6, 2025. (DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS) It came on the winning goal, of course, starting with a shot by Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm that went wide. Panthers forward Anton Lundell recovered the puck and quickly lobbed it ahead to a streaking Marchand, who put the puck between the pads of Skinner on a partial breakaway for the winning tally. 'Those counter attacks often happen,' Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters after the game. 'We're on the attack, we got a great look. (Ekholm) comes in there, takes a slap shot. If he hits the net, we're celebrating. Unfortunately, it goes around and it's a difficult read. Everyone's going one direction, then it's coming back the other way. 'It's just unfortunate it worked out that way.'
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Stanley Cup Final for old men: Brad Marchand and Corey Perry shine on hockey's biggest stage
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Brad Marchand and Corey Perry are by far the oldest players in the Stanley Cup Final. Marchand just turned 37 last month, and Perry is 40. Naturally, they combined for a third of the goals in Game 2 on Friday night, showing this is indeed a Cup final for old men, not for the earth but certainly in hockey. Marchand scored his second of the game to win it in double overtime for the Florida Panthers after Perry got the latest tying goal in the history of the final in the waning moments of regulation to give the Edmonton Oilers hope. 'You saying he's old, or what?' teammate Seth Jones said of Marchand. 'I'm going to tell him you said that. He's a dog. He's a gamer. He's a competitor. He brings so much energy to our team on and off the ice.' Where does that energy come from to play 22 important minutes? Anton Lundell hopes it comes from him and fellow linemate Eetu Luostarinen, the pups keeping an older dog like Marchand feeling young. 'He likes to spend time and be around us,' said Lundell, who set up each of Marchand's breakaway goals. 'He's in great shape, and it seems like nothing is stopping him.' Marchand is not slowing down in his 16th NHL season and 13th playoff run, the first away from the Boston Bruins. He is in the final for a fourth time, this one 14 years removed from his first when he and Boston also faced a Canadian team, the Vancouver Canucks, and won the Cup to keep the country's title drought going. His two-goal game came on the anniversary of scoring short-handed on Roberto Luongo in the 2011 final. Luongo now works for the Panthers in their front office and posted on social media after the game, 'Favorite player of all time.' 'Lu is awesome,' said Marchand, whose 10 goals in the final are the most among active players, one more than Perry. 'Happy to be on his team.' Perry even longer ago helped beat a Canadian team in the final when he and Anaheim defeated Ottawa in 2007. He's playing for the Cup for a sixth time in his career and for the fourth time over the past five years and is still producing at important moments. His tying goal with 17.8 seconds on the clock in the third period was just the latest example. 'Determination, finding a way to find the puck and then obviously putting it in the net. He's got a skill for that,' Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. 'Knowing in the playoffs it's hard to score and you need guys around the net and finding ways, he's as good as anybody finding ways to score.' Plenty of folks might be surprised to see Marchand and Perry doing this at their advanced ages. Paul Maurice, who has coached more games than anyone in NHL history except for Scotty Bowman, is not one of them. Maurice credits rule changes coming out of the 2004-05 lockout and sports science around the league for paving the way for players to contributed later into their 30s and even 40s. 'I think we're coming into an age of that,' Maurice said. 'A tremendous amount of care for the players, whether that's the meals that they eat, how we travel — there's a lot of money that goes into allowing these players to play. The old guys and the young guys benefit from the rule change, and they're better fit, conditioned athletes over their entire lives.' Marchand has his own routine, one that goes beyond the Dairy Queen Blizzard jokes that keep swirling around him this playoffs. He rode a stationary bike before overtime, something he likes to do after most periods. 'You're trying to keep your legs going in overtime,' Marchand said. 'Keep them feeling good.' The Panthers are feeling good after acquiring Marchand at the deadline from Boston and unleashing him for goals in Game 2 that tied the series. Winger Matthew Tkachuk thinks Marchand scored two of their biggest goals during this run, aging like a fine wine. 'Hopefully he can keep it going,' Tkachuk said. Unreal player, unreal competitor. … 'He could play till he's 47 the way he's going.' ___ AP NHL playoffs: and
