Are the Florida Panthers a team of destiny in the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs?

foreign is the path to Stanley DJ Bean Pete Blackburn we could be on the path to a pair of sweeps Peter both Conference Finals series at 2-0 right now Panthers up on Carolina in Las Vegas up 2-0 in their Conference Finals West vs. the Stars Either of these series don't feel like they're really over, but I'll say maybe the Eastern Conference series just because I was a little skeptical, uh, and I nixed the whole Destiny

team

thing with the Florida Panthers during quite a while and I think. It's pretty hard to do that right now because Florida just won't lose and obviously they take two in Raleigh and I think that's very important and I also look at the Western Conference, Dallas probably should have won the second game.

If it weren't for Ryan Suiter, who we'll talk about a little later, whoever Ryan Suiter completely lost his sense of spatial awareness or brain cells in the last minute of the second game, Dallas would probably win that game. I thought they were better. They played great defense to limit what Vegas got, so I still think Dallas might not be the best

team

, but I still give them a very good chance to win that series. I just have a hard time fighting the Panthers as a team. Fate at this point is that both series are where I thought they would be in terms of I thought the Panthers would absolutely win in the East and I thought the Knights would absolutely win in the West, which He said that the only one that really feels finished is Florida. about Carolina when you said the team and Destiny, that train has long left the station.

I think some of us felt it after the first game of the second round. We said it if they had won their second playoff game. This team has it, yes, because what were they doing? Why were they? I mean, like a team that was supposed to be good this season, had a tough time making the

playoffs

, then they show up and seem to have some kind of struggle, oh yeah, gimme. That team, if they come back to the forum, they were supposed to be sure they could make a run, plus they were playing the Leafs in the second round, so it was kind of a trap, very easy, a free slot in Bingo, so to speak, it's okay. that team wins and goes to Dallas, this is what they usually respond very well to losses, they always fall behind in the series and end up finding a way to come back.

I don't think they're going to do it because it can't be done. Spot a team like Vegas that is holding a two-game lead right now. I think they will make it more of a series than Carolina. Also, like you said, this one will return to Florida, not Florida which has the biggest home advantage in ICE. the world, but I think Florida wins that series, it's not a big advantage in Florida, but it's like Carolina losing its home-field advantage in ICE in Raleigh, that's a team, when everyone talks about Carolina, they say they wait until this series returns to Raleigh. they're going to take over, they gave up control when people talk about Carolina, it's not why people don't talk about Carolina more, it's a lot of talk about talk about Carolina, very online, it's Hurricanes fans, meanwhile , the Panthers have won. eight out of nine, very team of

destiny

, is that Sergey Bobrovsky intervening?

Is it Matthew Kuchuk arriving? uh so this is what I think Matthew Kuchuk has raised his profile and his stardom more than any other player in the

playoffs

and I don't. I think he's even close, we're talking about him as the NHL's potential Jimmy Butler right now, but I'm going to give more credit to Sergey Bobrovsky because I don't think Matthew Kuchuk would have that opportunity if it weren't for Sergey Barovsky. I think Sergey Bobrovsky has paved the way for Matthew Kuchuk to really take advantage of this moment, but it's pretty indisputable that the Panthers wouldn't be here if it weren't for Bob because we talked about it in the last month of the season, the regular season where the Panthers entered thanks to his good goaltending yeah it wasn't Bob but Bob was activated in the playoffs they are a different team with good goalies and they probably got the best of any team in the playoffs so far and that's the main reason they are here but yes, Matthew Kuchuk really seized his moment and elevated himself to one of the Echelon NHL's best players if he wasn't already there.

I think people are recognizing that he's a maybe. top 10 players in the NHL, well all the fuss about Matthew potentially being ruled out this postseason is justified and in the first round I remember telling you how everyone says Matthew Kachuk is going to become a villain, what are you talking about? to be in the playoffs for a long time to be a villain you have to, you can't be a thorn in someone's side when you're getting swept, but since he got to Florida, I mean, it took a little while for him to will manifest itself, of course, since arriving in Florida the culture has changed the DNA has changed the makeup of Jimmy Butler I think she is very clever about Bob, look, Bob will be one of two things, he will be incredible or he will be terrible, so if you told me Hey, guess what Sergey Bobrovsky is doing in the postseason right now.

I guess it's probably unbelievable because the most recent thing before that was that it's terrible and if you're doing that, guess what it's going to be a surprise, so I'm not surprised. Not at all, Babrovsky is doing one of the two things he does before continuing. I want to ask the question: Is Matthew Kuchuk a villain? Do you think this perception of him right now is a villain because I know that? Many people had some opinions about him immediately leaving the ice after winning the second game in overtime. I thought he was funny to me. No, I don't think there's an ounce of villain in Matthew Kuchuk just because he looks the part. like he's having the best time and I don't think anyone considers Jimmy Butler exactly a villain and he just takes games exactly.

I don't know what the fan bases are like, I mean, other than maybe like the Minnesota Timberwolves. or the Philadelphia 76ers, but that's their problem, you look at Jimmy Butler and you're like, oh man, like he's never done anything to bother anyone, all he's done is break people's hearts and that's what he's doing. doing Matthew Petruck and I think people look at the Panthers and say this. Damn guys, why are you here? They are standing in the way of the Bruins' perfect season or the Leafs having an easier path in the Eastern Conference. Why are these idiots still here?

It's because of Matthew Kuchuk and that mentality that permeates the entire clubhouse or locker room. I got confused when we started Crossing Sports, who is your Stanley for the weekend? Unfortunately, I'm going to say Ryan Suiter. I feel like I was pretty mean to Ryan Suiter in the opening segment. I'm going to double down, it was a, it was a horrible play and I think if the Dallas Stars get eliminated in the Western Conference finals, a lot of people will remember that moment as a defining moment in the series where Suiter turns the puck behind from the blue line and then immediately loses his coverage in front of the net, you just can't let that happen, especially as a seasoned veteran at this point in his career.

I just have to be smarter than that and it's a moment where I'm sure he wishes I had him back, but it's unforgivable. For me it's Bruce Cassidy. Either he ended up bad in Boston or, I mean, I guess bad. To our surprise, it didn't seem like he was going bad in Boston, but what happened to him in the end was that the players thought he was too bad, they were too hard on him, whatever was going on in Las Vegas, a good One way to keep players from getting mad at you is to train them so well that they win so you can't say anything negative at press conferences.

It looks like Bruce Cassidy is going to go to another Stanley Cup Final and if he wins it, what a story it would be for him, what a story it would be for Las Vegas to win one as quickly as they have and for the rest of the NHL, I think a lot . A lot of people will look around him and say we got this guy wrong. Okay, Florida goes up three nothing tonight. Eh, yeah, I'm probably not going to bet against the Panthers winning. If they do it. They're going to do nine out of ten because they're a Destiny team, this has been the road to Stanley DJ Bean Pete Blackburn