Beyond Center Ice

 This is the most southern Cup Final in NHL History!  Vegas and Florida... who would've thought when the playoffs started? In this post, I am not going to make everything about advanced stats. You guys know what each team does, you guys know who's good and who's not. Let's just take a look at how we got here. Florida started these playoffs out as a massive underdog. They went down 3-1 to Boston, as I'm sure you know, and they came back. Boston had 3 chances to bury them, and should've knocked the Cats out in every single game. But they didn't. Then, this spiraled Florida as a superpower. The Leafs couldn't stop them, and the Canes, despite outplaying Florida in each game, couldn't beat Bob. Sergei Bobrovsky has been unstoppable since he came in to these playoffs, and Vegas needs to learn how to stop him. Or, Florida is lifting the cup.  Vegas started this playoffs out with a dominating series win in 5 games against an underdog that many thought could...

 The East Finals Are HERE! And I got both of my predictions for the semi-finals wrong! Who predicted this? The Florida Panthers beat not only the best regular season team in NHL history, but then they dominate a Toronto Maple Leafs team that was expected to win the cup after Round One! They absolutely rolled over the Leafs, and they deserve their spot here in the east finals. For Carolina, many (including me) doubted their ability, but they have gotten over whatever scoring issues they had down the stretch, as they have absolutely killed it on offense in both Round One and Round Two. For these two teams, it's looking like they're going to be impossible to stop... but one of them will stop the other. Who? For Florida, everything has gone right for them since Game 5 vs Boston. Matthew Tkachuk has been great, and though he didn't score against Toronto, he put up a lot of assists and currently has the 2nd most points among playoff players still in the playoffs. He single-handed...

 The Panthers completed one of the most shocking upsets in NHL History, not matched since 2019 when another record breaking team was eliminated. But, their story is not done. They have a chance to shock the world again with another upset victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, who finally made it out of the first round for the first time since 2004.  After the Panthers defeated the Bruins, I, like many others, was at a loss for words. They were down 3-1, but they played with fire, with a desperation I haven't seen any other elimination facing team play with. They fought hard in each and every moment, buried their chances in game 5 and especially game 6, and then stunned the world in the OT of Game 7. But, with all of this, they weren't even being outplayed in this series. They were the better team on xG%, and the margin was even higher on G%. They deserved to move on, the Bruins did not. Matthew Tkachuk was the hero of the series, with 11 points in the 7 games, and being a force...