00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid. We've got the Stanley Cup Finals almost underway.
00:05We've got to get through the East and the West first. Let's bring in Joe Madden to recap what we saw over the weekend
00:09and also preview the upcoming series in the East and West. Joe, welcome back to Newswire here. Really appreciate it.
00:15Joe, let's get started here and talk about what we left off with last week, which is the collision course here
00:21that the Florida Panthers could potentially be on and facing off with the Edmonton Oilers.
00:25First, let's talk Panthers hockey. And Joe, I mean, what are we going to say here?
00:31You know, Panthers are a really good team, very resilient, play up to the big moments.
00:36But these poor Maple Leafs fans, my gosh, every year something happens and it feels like you're just waiting for a crash and burn.
00:43And by the way, for the Maple Leafs fans, Joe, I think they probably would have accepted 3-2 or 4-3 or 2-1.
00:50But this thing was so out of hand early. I mean, the defending champions showed why they're the defending champs.
00:57Yeah, exactly. We saw what happened in Game 5 happen here in Game 7 to the Toronto Maple Leafs with that complete fall apart.
01:056-1 final score for the Florida Panthers. And this is what the Florida Panthers do best.
01:09They wear down teams. Matthew Kachak saying it yesterday in his press conference.
01:13That's their plan. They come out, they come out hard hitting, they get those four checks in, and they wear down their opponent.
01:20Now they were nicely able to do that. And they came out so aggressive in yesterday's matchup.
01:25Coming out on the ice in that first period, they had 21 shots on a net to zero shots for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
01:33Working that defense, not allowing the Leafs to have any opportunity.
01:37And they came out in that second period and did the same thing.
01:40They really wore out the defense there, got past them, got those shots on goal, and didn't allow anything.
01:46So we look at Seth Jones, the defenseman, so aggressive in yesterday's game.
01:51And the Toronto Maple Leafs just couldn't keep pace with them.
01:54They couldn't get anything done.
01:55And it is sad here for Leafs fans with that core four.
01:59It has to go. It's not working.
02:00You've got Mitch Marner. He's an unrestricted free agent.
02:03And I do think he'll be the first one to make a move.
02:06And I think he'll choose to make the move over the Leafs choosing to let him go.
02:11It's going to be a great series, I think, coming up with Carolina.
02:13Let's get to this matchup here, which is somewhat of a coin flip,
02:17although I will say the Panthers are slight favorites on FanDuel, Joe, this morning.
02:21Minus 128, Carolina plus 106.
02:24So look, let's be clear, a little juice on the Panthers, minus 128.
02:28Total amount of games over five and a half is minus 210.
02:33It feels like every series, Joe, the Panthers are in from the beginning to the end
02:36is more than five and a half games, but that's minus 210.
02:39So it's not really value bettable.
02:41Do you have anything in particular in this series?
02:44I think last week you kind of, I think you alluded to the fact
02:48that you think the Panthers are going back to the finals, right?
02:50Yeah, I absolutely think the Florida Panthers are going back to the finals.
02:53So right now you can take them two in the series.
02:55That's coming in at minus 126.
02:57Now they're just coming off that game versus Toronto.
03:00So if they do slip up in game one, you're going to get a better number after game one
03:04if Carolina is able to pull off that win.
03:06But then you risk the fact of what happened back in 2023 in the conference finals
03:11where the Florida Panthers absolutely swept the Carolina Hurricanes.
03:14Now the Carolina Hurricanes have had the easiest path to get here going through Montreal
03:19and then the Washington Capitals and no disrespect to them.
03:22But the Florida Panthers are at a different level than those teams.
03:25And I do think Carolina is going to struggle.
03:28This will come down to goaltending.
03:29And I also think you can look at this series, total goals.
03:33We look at elite kills on both sides, elite defenses.
03:36And while they have potent offenses, I do think this will be a lower scoring one.
03:40FanDuel right now has under 34 and a half goals for the series coming in at minus 130.
03:45So you'll still have to lay the juice.
03:47But I do think it happens.
03:48And I would take the Florida Panthers to win this in six.
03:52All right.
03:52So now we have the Edmonton Oilers taking on the Dallas Stars.
03:56You accurately said Edmonton's going to wrap it up.
03:58Before when we talked last, they did.
04:00And another coin flip series against Dallas.
04:03I think probably, Joe, a few weeks ago, Dallas would have been a bigger favorite.
04:07But the Oilers are rolling right now.
04:09And we're looking at more or less the same odds in both series, which is sort of incredible.
04:13And, you know, Panthers and Oilers, by the way, and we're going to look at this in a second, are both equally favored to win the Cup.
04:21So, Joe, I think last week also you came on and said it's going to be Florida-Edmonton.
04:27So here we are.
04:28Are you going to stick with that?
04:30I'll give you your chance to pivot off this before the series begins.
04:33No, I can't pivot off this one.
04:34While you look at the Dallas Stars and you look at their goaltending with Jake Ottinger and you look at their depth on all four lines, you've got power up and down.
04:41The Edmonton Oilers just keep getting better and better each and every single game.
04:46The LA Kings did everyone a disservice, not taking them out when they weren't completely healthy in that first round.
04:51And they've allowed Edmonton to get here, then getting through Vegas.
04:55Skinner, we've had question marks around him each and every year.
04:58But now Skinner really showed up two shutouts in the last one versus Vegas.
05:03I think Edmonton takes a series minus 118 in six coming in at plus 195.
05:08All right, Joe, great stuff.
05:10As always, good predictions, too, last week from you.
