No NBA games last night and I was in a great mood already as Skip Johnson’s Sooners beat O-State in the Big 12 baseball tournament. Nice win for the defending national runnerup Sooners who have been in rebuild mode this season after having eleven or so players drafted last summer.
It was Stanley Cup Playoff night at the ranch out here in Deer Creek and I was totally focused on the Florida vs. Carolina-Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.
What a great hockey game!!!!
The Panthers with 4.3 seconds left in regulation advanced to the Finals on a Matthew Tkachuk powerplay goal for a 4-3 win. I have no idea how to spell Matthew’s last name even though I watched his father play countless times. Hence…it will be Matthew K in the Stanley Cup Finals.
This was one was one of the best hockey games I’ve seen to date in these Stanley Cup Playoffs. It had everything. Great pace both ways. Both teams skated their asses off. Good goaltending in both nets. Some pretty nice tic-tac-toe goals. Carolina coming back from a two goal deficit to tie the game. A five star check by Sam Bennett to set the tone early. And then of course…the game winner by Matthew K to send the Florida Panthers to their first Stanley Cup Finals since 1996.
What a great game!
When I saw the Sam Bennett check I lost it right there and then as I’m certain Brooks Koepka did as well. If I had Draymond Green’s cell phone number….. I would have sent him this video immediately with the caption, “This is what you should have done to Jordan Poole in training camp. This is why basketball players wouldn’t last a week in the NHL, buddy.” Mikey J
This is what needs to occur to help Jordan Poole become an honest two way NBA player. Not a punch. Just a textbook check when Jordan has his head down. In all seriouslness…I hope Jaccob Slavin is okay. But man, what a check by Sammy Bennett to set the tone. This is what Jamie Benn should have done the night before in Dallas.
I love seeing Brooks Koepka hopping around in his jersey like a little girl at these Florida Panther games. I never knew he had this side to him. I love it. He’s so deathly serious on the golf course. I’ll be pulling for the Panthers when they play the Vegas Golden Knights in the Finals.
Vegas will be favored in the Finals, but there’s just something about these gritty Florida Panthers you fall in love with as a hockey fan. They stunned the President Cup winning Boston Bruins in a Game 7 road thriller, easily dispatched the pathetic Toronto Maple Leaves in five games, and just swept a very solid Carolina hockey club.
I’ll call it destiny. The Panthers finally got healthy late in the season and slid into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the West. This kind of has that St. Louis Blues feel from several seasons ago when they beat the Boston Bruins and that pathetic Tuuka Rask in a road Game 7 to win the Cup.
Hopefully…the Celtics and Heat give us a game tonight as good as the hockey game was last night.
Winning is fun.
I think it was Jim Nance on the CBS broadcast of the PGA Tournament who said the PGA Cup could hold forty-three 12 ounce beers. Most people don’t know this about Jimmy, but Jim was the alternate player on those great Houston Cougar golf teams back in the Freddie Couples era.
- Note to Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars, “This is how you give your team an emotional charge and a powerplay at the same time.”