A Flyers Fans’ Guide to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final
By Scott Cole
As you are well aware, the Philadelphia Flyers did not make the playoffs this season. While they improved in the standings from last year, it will still be a while before they can contend. A new team leadership is in place that, hopefully, can get this team turned around.
But in the meantime, there is still the Stanley Cup Final to watch. This year’s championship finalists are the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights. One is representing the Eastern Conference and has several former Flyers on it. The other, the Golden Knights, is still a “young team”, in terms of years, represents the Western Conference and is bereft of Flyers. So, who should you root for?
Florida Panthers
It’s amazing how something small can change everything. The Pittsburgh Penguins only had to win one game in their final three and they would’ve clinched a spot in the playoffs. They were facing the Detroit Red Wings, the Chicago Blackhawks, and the Columbus Blue Jackets; three teams that were out of the playoffs including two of the worst three teams in the NHL. Win one and they are in. The Pens lost all three games.
Because of this, the Florida Panthers earned a spot on the last day of the season. They then toppled the might Boston Bruins in seven games, trounced the Toronto Maple Leafs in five, and stunned the Carolina Hurricanes in a sweep.
They are a talented bunch of players led by Matthew Tkachuk, a player that I suggested last year the Flyers should trade for while he is an RFA We are seeing why that is. He would’ve been worth trading for. Likewise, there are a bunch of former Flyers players on the team: Nick Cousins, Radko Gudas, and goaltenders Sergei Bobrovksy and Alex Lyon. And while Lyon is back to playing the backup role right now, it is because of his efforts over the last three weeks of the season that put the Panthers into the playoffs to begin with.
Bobrobsky has found his mojo again. The Panthers look practically unbeatable. Every year you have that one team that gets hot at the end of the year and carries it through the playoffs. That team is very dangerous. This year, that team is Florida.
Vegas Golden Knights
Unlike the Panthers, who scraped and clawed their way into the playoffs, the Knights were the top seed in the West. And just like the Panthers, they have taken a chainsaw right through their competition. They dispatched the Winnipeg Jets in five games and left that team in a messy situation that hopefully the Flyers can exploit. Then, they took on the mighty Edmonton Oilers and topped them in six games, giving up five goals to Connor McDavid and six to Leon Draisaitl, but only eight goals to other players on Edmonton. Finally, the Knights dropped the Dallas Stars in six games, thanks in large part to Jamie Benn doing the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in a playoff game:
Enjoy your offseason Jamie!
If you look at the stats, Vegas didn’t exactly set the world on fire as in an individual player, like McDavid or Draisaitl tend to do. However, you have just good, solid teamwork. Vegas had six players who scored more than 50 points this year, with Jack Eichel leading the way with 66. In comparison, the Flyers had two (Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes) and Florida had five.
They’ve also done it with goaltenders who’ve been hurt. IF you need an argument that you don’t always need a stud goalie, Vegas shows you can get by with a good defense and a good offense as long as the netminder doesn’t totally suck.