Something about this year’s officiating in the NHL Stanley Cup Final feels different. Maybe it is because of the amount of penalties that have been called so far, especially through four games. Or maybe it is the amount of time that has been spent short-handed, which is realistically taking away from the flow of the game and the 5v5 play.
I do not want to talk about the officiating in a negative way too much, but it definitely feels like compared to other years, this year has been a little bit more questionable and crazy. It was not too bad throughout the regular season, but it seemed to pick up in playoffs. I know that I am not the only person who has noticed. It has actually been talked about a lot.
The play style of the Oilers and Panthers
The Edmonton Oilers are playing against the Florida Panthers and one team plays a very physical game, while the other focuses more on their offensive side of the game. With the way that Florida plays, especially aggressively, they will hound you and try to force you off the puck with any opportunity that they get. They also do not hesitate to play physical and will finish every check no matter what.
The Oilers have definitely thrown the body around too, but they are more focused on their forecheck ability which leads to offence and scoring goals. Having arguably the two best players in the world right now, the opportunities for Edmonton are sure to arise every game. If you give the Oilers that one grade A opportunity, they will make you regret it. In my honest opinion, based on what I have noticed in the Final so far, Florida actually does way better at scoring on their opportunities and will score on every chance that you give them.
Penalty minutes upon penalty minutes
Penalties and special teams have definitely been the biggest storyline in the Stanley Cup Finals so far. In four games, Edmonton has had a total of 20 power plays and Florida has been on the man-advantage 21 times. The Oilers have gone four for 20 on their power play, which is only 20% and definitely not good enough considering what is on the line. The Panthers on the other hand, have gone seven for 21 on their power play, which gives them a 33% and is a very good number to see with five-on-four play.
Edmonton had six penalty minutes in Game 1, double that at 12 in Game 2 and some how amassed 85 in Game 3. Yes, you read that right, the Oilers racked up 85 penalty minutes in one game, with the majority of that happening in the third period.
Florida had eight penalty minutes in Game 1, double that at 16 in Game 2 and even had 55 penalty minutes of their own in Game 3. So it has actually been pretty consistent for both teams, but has seemed a bit excessive if you ask me. 140 penalty minutes combined in one game is unheard of and I do not think we will be seeing that again throughout the rest of the Final.
Hits, hits, and more hits
Hits and checks are definitely something you see a lot of in any Stanley Cup Final and we have seen that with the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers. There were 102 hits combined in Game 1, with the Panthers throwing 51 and the Oilers throwing 51. In Game 2, Florida crushed it in that regard with 60 and Edmonton only had 39. In Game 3 the hits slowed down, with the Oilers taking 26 and the Panthers taking 34. Finally, in Game 4 the hits were not much different to the Game 3 hits, and were actually flipped, with 25 for Edmonton and 34 for Florida.
With 171 hits for the cats and 149 hits for the blue and orange, neither team had even thought of hesitating when it came down to finishing a check. 320 hits across four games is honestly mind-blowing and sets an average of 80 hits per game. NHL fans love a great hit and will make it known if there was one in particular that they really enjoyed.
With potentially three games remaining, what else will we see in the Stanley Cup Final? Or do you think that the refs will put their whistles away and the game will actually be a bit more normal? Let us know what you think in the comments.👇
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