The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back on Friday, May 9, starting with the defending champion Florida Panthers hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs for Game 3 of their second round series at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast on TNT and truTV. Fans looking to watch this NHL game can do so for free by using DirecTV Stream, which offers a free trial or with SlingTV, which doesn’t offer a free trial but has promotional offers available. MAX has plans starting at just $9.99/month or you can also bundle your MAX subscription with Disney+ and Hulu for $16.99.
The Maple Leafs are up 2-0 in the series after taking care of business at home, most recently in a 4-3 contest. in Game 2.
The Panthers need a win after dropping a pair of 1-goal games up North. Florida lost Game 3 at home in its first round series, but that was also the only game the team lost in that series.
Who: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Florida Panthers
When: Friday, May 9 at 7 p.m. EDT
Where: Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.
Stream:Sling; DirecTV Stream; MAX
Betting: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.
What is DirecTV Stream?
DirecTV Stream is an internet TV service that offers your favorite entertainment, news and sports channels, as well as local TV stations and regional sports networks. DirecTV Stream can be purchased for $79.98/month for your first two months when you sign up for the ENTERTAINMENT package and add DIRECTV Sports Pack.
What is SlingTV?
Here’s what you can watch on Sling TV, with plans starting at $40: Baseball (MLB), Basketball (NBA, NCAAB), Combat Sports (Boxing, UFC, MMA), Football (NCAAF, NFL), Golf, Hockey, Motorsports, Olympics, Soccer, Tennis and Wrestling.
What is MAX?
MAX is a streaming service that combines the catalogues of HBO and the various channels that make up the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks like CNN, Discovery Channel and TLC. The service is also partnered with Bleacher Report to provide sports coverage for anything covered by Turner Sports such as the NBA on TNT, the NHL on TNT, college basketball games on TNT and TBS and the Unrivaled 3×3 basketball league. You can also bundle your MAX subscription with Disney+ and Hulu.
HOW TO WATCH THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS ON truTV
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Utah Mammoth is the permanent name of the NHL team in Salt Lake City
By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer
After a mammoth undertaking of buying an NHL team, moving players, coaches and a full staff more than 600 miles and getting it all together in a matter of months before the puck dropped on a new season, it is perhaps a fitting identity that owners Ryan and Ashley Smith chose after rounds and rounds of fan voting.
They unveiled Utah Mammoth as the franchise’s permanent, full-time name Wednesday, with a profiled logo of the ice age creature featuring nods to the shape of the state, its mountain range and the same light blue, black and white color scheme that quickly became synonymous with the team in its first season in Salt Lake City.
“Our fans made it very easy for us,” Ryan Smith said at a news conference at Delta Center celebrating the branding effort’s competition after more than 850,000 votes were cast over the past 13 months. “Every single night we were doing the voting, Mammoth just started running away with it. … And for us, it was like, ‘That’s it.’”
Mammoth replaces the 2024-25 placeholder name Utah Hockey Club, which was also one of the three finalists. Yeti was taken out of consideration when the cooler company bearing that name could not come to a copyright agreement with Utah ownership, and Wasatch — a reference to the state’s mountain range — was quickly replaced as an option by Outlaws.
The Mammoth are maintaining the road jerseys with UTAH diagonally down the front. The logo, along with mountains and a hidden “M” and more of what Smith called “Easter eggs,” also has a curved tusk that forms a “U.”
Mammoth fossils have been found throughout Utah, including a complete skeleton in Huntington Canyon in 1988. The team said “Tusks Up” will be its rallying cry.
“We uncovered a little bit of the mammoth history in this state,” Smith said. “It was daunting — of how close and tied and whether it was Lake Bonneville or Fairview, Utah, or Lake Powell and the size of the mammoth and how fast they go, it became like this really cool thing.”
Utah has an exciting summer ahead holding the fourth pick in the draft, the first phase of arena renovations taking place and more than $20 million in salary cap space for general manager Bill Armstrong to make a splash in free agency and trades. With young talent like captain Clayton Keller, budding star forward Logan Cooley, two-time Stanley Cup champion Mikhail Sergachev and emerging goaltender Karel Vejmelka, the Mammoth could contend for a playoff spot as soon as next season.
Sitting next to Commissioner Gary Bettman, Ashley Smith said the goal was to bring him back with more to celebrate.
“Next time, Stanley Cup,” she told Bettman, who responded, “It would be my pleasure.” Bettman, who turns 73 in July, added, “When you win the Stanley Cup, I hope I’m still doing this to present it.”
Hockey in Utah has already been a win after Smith Entertainment Group bought the team previously known as the Arizona Coyotes from former owner Alex Meruelo and moved it to Salt Lake City. The Coyotes played in the Phoenix area since 1996 after moving there from Winnipeg, where the team was the original Jets.
“The first year has been almost mind-blowing in terms of how successful Utah and you and everybody in SEG has been,” Bettman said. “This has been the ultimate team effort for the ultimate team sport. And while you may be thrilled to have us, we’re thrilled to be part of Utah and are grateful.”
The rollout of Mammoth even included a fan holding a Stanley cup — lower-case “C” — Yeti coolers’ biggest competition in that market. In the midst of a formative day in the organization’s history, Ryan Smith almost seemed to want to manifest another one sometime in the future, not for a mug but the sport’s most hallowed trophy.
“When we etch Utah Mammoth in Lord Stanley’s Cup,” he said, “that’ll be a good one.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article