Does Vegas have a plan to slow down Tkachuk?

Good morning and happy Friday, June 2nd.

The Stanley Cup Finals start tomorrow!

Tuesday’s poll was fairly split with 57% of voters predicting the Golden Knights will win the Stanley Cup. Find our team’s predictions at the bottom of today’s featured piece.

One thing is for certain: one of these teams will be winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in their franchise history. 🎉

Today’s lineup:

• ♠️ Vegas vs. Florida preview

• 🐧 Pens hire Dubas

• 🔵⚪️ Leafs hire Treliving

• 👇 And a lot more…

The Vegas Golden Knights don’t need to take a deep dive into advanced analytics to figure out who they need to stop to have the best shot at defeating the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.

Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk boasts four game-winning goals in the playoffs and has scored, or assisted, on 42% of the Panthers’ goals in this postseason.

The Golden Knights are -130 favorites (DraftKings Sportsbook) for Saturday’s Game 1 (8 p.m. ET, TNT) of the best-of-seven Final. The two teams split two regular-season meetings. Coach Bruce Cassidy’s Vegas squad beat the Panthers 4-2 at home on Jan. 12 and lost 2-1 at Florida on March 7.

The Panthers enter the Final on a five-game postseason winning streak and have won 11 of their last 12 games. The Golden Knights have won six out of their last eight.

Vegas has reached the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in the past six seasons. The Golden Knights lost in five games to the Washington Capitals in their inaugural season in 2017-18.

This is Florida’s first trip to the Final since 1996. This is only the second time they have recorded a playoff series win since 1996.

On paper, the Golden Knights have the advantage at even-strength. They have scored 49 five-on-five goals in 17 postseason games and 2 four-on-four goals. Jonathan Marchessault has netted nine goals in his past 10 games and all of them have been at even-strength. Jack Eichel, playing in the postseason for the first time in his NHL career, leads Vegas with 18 points in the playoffs. Thirteen of his points have come even-strength.

Tkachuk (21 points in 16 games) has led the Florida charge, but goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (11-2, 2.21 goals-against average, .935 save percentage) has played some of his best hockey in recent years.

Our team’s predictions:

Kevin: Florida in 6

Brandon: Florida in 7

Sorry Joe…

Name the six players who hold the record for most points (5) in a single Stanley Cup Final game.

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• Predators hire Andrew Brunette as coach to replace John Hynes

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• Peterborough rallies, advances to Memorial Cup semifinal

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Don Metz (4/14/42), Syl Apps (4/14/42), Eddie Bush (4/9/42), Sid Abel (4/1/43), Toe Blake (4/13/44), and Jari Kurri (5/18/90) all hold the record for most points (5) scored in a single Stanley Cup Finals game.