If winger is out, Edmonton Oilers will miss him dearly
Article content
This in from the Edmonton Oilers, news that winger Connor Brown is a game-time decision for the team.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Latest National Stories
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Province
5 hours ago
- The Province
Connor McDavid's wife seemingly shades Florida Panthers: 'Why is Alberta rat-free?'
Lauren Kyle McDavid chimed in as the Florida Panthers were beating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final Lauren Kyle McDavid, wife of Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid, posted a thinly veiled taunt at the Florida Panthers via Instagram after their convincing win in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Photo by Nick Kozak As the final fists were thrown and players were being ejected from Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final Monday night, the wife of the game's biggest star, the Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid, subtly chirped the Florida Panthers team on their way to a convincing 6-1 win. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors In a departure from her typically aesthetically curated and polished Instagram account, clothing and interior designer Lauren Kyle McDavid posted a screenshot of a Google Gemini AI response to her query: 'Why is Alberta rat-free?' The screenshot goes on to explain that a provincial program to monitor the Saskatchewan border, combined with strict enforcement and trapping, has led to the province being 'essentially rat-free' for 75 years. Rats are not even permitted as pets in Alberta, but are permitted at zoos, universities or for research purposes. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. However, for those unfamiliar, the rat has been an unofficial Panthers' mascot for 30 years, and, more recently, the term has been one of the many less savoury monikers applied to the Panthers' Brad Marchand, regarded by peers and critics as one of the most antagonistic and bothersome players in the NHL. He picked it up early in his career when drawing comparisons to Ken 'The Rat' Linesman, who played a similar style of hockey and famously bit the nose of Edmonton's Lee Fogolin in 1984. Opposing fans will insist the nickname also alludes to Marchand's nose, which also inspired another early sobriquet: Nose Face Killah, a play on Ghost Face Killah, a member of the rap group Wu-Tang Clan. Early in his career, Brad Marchand was dubbed the Nose Face Killah. Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images The Nova Scotia native might be one of the few NHL players to have a nickname bestowed upon him by a sitting U.S. President. After the Boston Bruins won the 2011 Stanley Cup in Marchand's rookie year, Barack Obama referred to him as 'a little ball of hate' during the team's subsequent visit to the White House. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. As for how the club and its fan base embraced the rat as one of its symbols, you have to go back to the 1995 season when Panthers' forward Scott Mellanby used a slapshot to kill a rat found in the club's dressing room before a game. He went on to score two goals with the same stick that night, leading goalie John Vanbiesbrouck to later joke that his teammate had scored a 'rat trick' — a play on the hockey term for hat trick, when a player nets three goals in a game. The next time Mellanby scored on home ice, someone tossed a fake rat on the ice, and it soon became a practice that became entrenched in the team's run to the Stanley Cup Final in the spring of 1996, the year of the rat, on the Chinese zodiac. The NHL eventually instituted a rule against it, but some fans continue to do it after victories. According to the league, some fans are known to stock up on rubber or plastic rats at Halloween or order them in bulk online. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The tradition continued Monday night as dozens of plastic rats, along with refuse from the stands, rained down on the ice following a fight-filled Game 3. Fans throw rats onto the ice after the Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-1 in Game Three of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday in Sunrise, Fla. Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Appropriately, the Panthers' original mascot is Stanley C. Panther, but in 2014, the club introduced Viktor E. Ratt as a secondary mascot in homage to the unintentional rat legacy. Merchandise stores at Amerant Bank Arena sell t-shirts, hats and large gold chains with rats dangling from them. Kyle McDavid wasn't in Sunrise, Fla., to see the ice showered with debris. She, along with the wives and girlfriends of several other Oilers, were attending a bachelorette party in Greece for Celeste Desjardins, fiancée to Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl, per Daily Hive Vancouver. But she has attended several playoff home games at Rogers Place. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The energy is just unreal. Everyone's on edge, the fans are fully dialled in, and you can feel how much it means to people,' she told ELLE Canada during the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars in late May. 'I love being part of that. It's emotional, exciting and a little chaotic in the best way.' Game 4 in the best-of-seven final is Thursday night, 8 p.m. ET, back at the Panthers' barn. Florida leads the series 2-1. Game 5 returns to Edmonton on Saturday night. Edmonton Oilers fans cheer against the Florida Panthers during the third period in Game One of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on June 04, 2025 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Photo by Steph Chambers / Getty Images Read More Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Whitecaps News News News
Edmonton Journal
6 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
Rangers sign veteran reliever Kimbrel to minor-league contract
Article content MINNEAPOLIS — The Texas Rangers signed veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel to a minor-league contract Wednesday. The 37-year-old Kimbrel will report to triple-A Round Rock this week. Article content Article content Latest National Stories
Winnipeg Free Press
11 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Oilers likely making a change for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. Who starts in goal is a mystery
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Kris Knoblauch said Wednesday the Edmonton Oilers are likely making a change in their lineup for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers, though the second-year coach would not reveal what it would be or who he plans to start in goal on Thursday night. Stuart Skinner was replaced by Calvin Pickard late in Game 3 after allowing five goals on 23 shots on the way to a 6-1 defeat. Pickard allowed one more in mop-up duty. Knoblauch, captain Connor McDavid and others defended Skinner's play, insisting the team needed to be better in front of him. 'We've got to help him, for sure, and I think that he's been playing unbelievable in the last, what, three, four, five weeks,' defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. 'I don't know how long it's been now, but it feels like a long time and he hasn't had a bad game. Maybe last night was one of those when it was good to get it out of the system. Hopefully it's one of those, a night off.' Skinner has allowed 13 goals on 97 shots in the final, an .866 save percentage. Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky has allowed nine on 125, a .928 save percentage. 'He gives us a chance every night,' Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues said. 'That's all you can ask for, right? Some big saves, key saves at key moments and we're not taking him for granted, that's for sure.' Edmonton started the playoffs with Skinner, went to Pickard after two losses to open the first round against Los Angeles and won six in a row. Pickard was injured in the second round against Vegas, so Skinner got the net back and has been the starter since. He allowed 10 goals on 132 shots in five games against Dallas in the West final, a .924 save percentage. 'Calvin was playing really well but I think, also, we've always felt confident in Calvin,' Knoblauch said. 'Calvin's always been a guy who (has) been able to come in and give us good, quality starts.' The play in front of the crease is a bigger concern for the Oilers. Veteran defenseman John Klingberg is a team-worst minus-4 through two games. 'John's been great through the playoffs: He's gotten us through a lot of rounds,' Knoblauch said. 'At this time of the year, you want depth. You know there's going to be injuries and things you have to change up to your lineup.' Troy Stecher, who played a handful of games earlier in the playoffs when Ekholm was out, figures to take Klingberg's place if that is the move. 'Troy's been very valuable to our team, through regular season, playoffs and probably one thing we as a coaching staff appreciate a lot from Troy is just how dependable he is,' Knoblauch said. 'No matter if he's playing big minutes regularly, hasn't played for a long period of time, any time we've needed him he's given us really good minutes and usually not making mistakes.' Top-line forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is again going to be considered a game-time decision with an undisclosed injury. Nugent-Hopkins did not skate Tuesday. The Oilers had a (well-attended) optional practice Wednesday that included McDavid and Leon Drasaitl among the more than half-dozen players on the ice. Ekblad's hit One of the most noticeable moments of Game 3 was Aaron Ekblad connecting with McDavid on a clean, hard open-ice hit. McDavid almost helicoptered down to the ice as Panthers fans cheered. McDavid went to the locker room not long after but with an equipment manager, not a member of the training staff. Ekblad did not think much of it. I didn't think it was that big hit, no,' Ekblad said. 'I don't even think I got him that good, realistically. So, I don't know, I'm just trying to get in his way and separate man from puck and that's all you can ask for against a guy like that.' The body checks are piling up. Ekblad had three of the five on McDavid in Game 3, and the reigning playoff MVP has been hit nine times in the series. Florida has outhit the Oilers, but not by much: 137-124. Maurice's memory Only nine-time Stanley Cup champion Scotty Bowman — father of Oilers general manager Stan Bowman — has coached more games in the NHL than Florida's Paul Maurice. With that comes some full-circle moments. On the other bench in the final this year and last is Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey, an assistant on Knoblauch's staff. Maurice when asked about older players delivering in the playoffs in light of Brad Marchand and Corey Perry starring in the final told a story about making Coffey a healthy scratch for the first game of the first round in 1999 against Carolina in his 'foolish youth.' 'He handled it great,' Maurice said. 'He said, 'I don't agree with it, but I understand it.' He went back and I think he rode the bike for about three hours. … And then he went into Game 2 and he was maybe our best player (and) one of the best players on the ice. And I always remembered that as these older players view the playoffs differently.' ___ AP NHL playoffs: and
