For all else that's so hard to fathom about this Stanley Cup Final to date, this might be the hardest-to-fathomest: The good part's still to come.
It's almost felt like too much at times:
I mean, Leon Draisaitl's record fourth overtime goal of these playoffs might've been the least of the highlights from that 5-4 triumph for the Oilers over the Panthers in Sunrise, Fla. It wasn't even the play of that period, that belonging to Calvin Pickard's mindblowing save earlier on Sam Bennett. To say nothing of Sam Reinhart tying the thing with 20 ticks left in regulation. To say nothing of Edmonton roaring back from three goals down.
This has it all. The NHL's first rematch since Sid the Kid vs. the Wings. Stars galore on both sides. The defending champ vs. the generation's defining superstar duo. Multiple-goal comebacks in either direction. The fourth-most goals scored in any Final. Mostly great goaltending despite that. Three overtimes out of the first four. A 2-2 series split founded on a W for each on the other's ice.
I can't recall any Final like it. At least not one I'd care to mention, for fear of really dating myself by citing a very different group of Oilers trying to dethrone the Islanders in the early 1980s.
If anyone has one, I'm all ears. But I wouldn't put Penguins vs. Red Wings in this category, if only because the former was so young, so up-and-coming that it all came with an air of inevitability.
This one ... wow, no one could know even what Game 5 will bring tomorrow.
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THE ASYLUM
Dejan Kovacevic
7:31 am - 06.13.2025DowntownFor all else that's so hard to fathom about this Stanley Cup Final to date, this might be the hardest-to-fathomest: The good part's still to come.
It's almost felt like too much at times:
I mean, Leon Draisaitl's record fourth overtime goal of these playoffs might've been the least of the highlights from that 5-4 triumph for the Oilers over the Panthers in Sunrise, Fla. It wasn't even the play of that period, that belonging to Calvin Pickard's mindblowing save earlier on Sam Bennett. To say nothing of Sam Reinhart tying the thing with 20 ticks left in regulation. To say nothing of Edmonton roaring back from three goals down.
This has it all. The NHL's first rematch since Sid the Kid vs. the Wings. Stars galore on both sides. The defending champ vs. the generation's defining superstar duo. Multiple-goal comebacks in either direction. The fourth-most goals scored in any Final. Mostly great goaltending despite that. Three overtimes out of the first four. A 2-2 series split founded on a W for each on the other's ice.
I can't recall any Final like it. At least not one I'd care to mention, for fear of really dating myself by citing a very different group of Oilers trying to dethrone the Islanders in the early 1980s.
If anyone has one, I'm all ears. But I wouldn't put Penguins vs. Red Wings in this category, if only because the former was so young, so up-and-coming that it all came with an air of inevitability.
This one ... wow, no one could know even what Game 5 will bring tomorrow.
Want to participate in our comments?
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