I mean, the NHL has a team called the Kraken already. Mammoth isn’t that big a stretch, I would say.
That’s fair. I would pay to see a kraken fight a mammoth.
Too bad it wasn’t the [del]Insulated Mugs[/del] Yeti.
Mikko Rantanen is on a fucking mission.
Is Rantanen close to setting some sort of playoff record? I can’t recall a 3-game stretch with a player accumulating this many points in 3 consecutive playoff games. Of course, though, I know almost no hockey stat records.
Rantanen seems like he’s going to single handedly win a cup, at this point. That’s not realistic, but it seems that way.
He’s the third player to get back to back playoff hat tricks, if nothing else.
I thought Rantanen was the first player to have 4 point periods in back to back playoff games. It turns out he was the first to have 4 point periods in back to back games EVER.
One more Rantanen fact according to Greg Wyshynski:
Rantanen is the first player in Stanley Cup playoff history with multiple three-goal periods in the same postseason. He is only the fourth player in NHL history to achieve the feat at any point in his career, joining Wayne Gretzky, Maurice Richard and Tim Kerr.
I’m glad I have zero money on the playoffs although I may treat the Leafs fan at my regular bar to a pitcher of beer.
I had the Panthers absolutely steamrolling the Leafs in this series. Panthers kicked the Lightning’s ass while the Leafs struggled against the just happy to be here Senators.
Backup goalie? No problem. Leafs are absolutely embarrassing the Florida Panthers on their own ice. A bunch of Panthers fans are going home tonight with their rats in their pockets and will be flying a New York Rangers flag again by tomorrow morning.
Sadly, the Leafs did Leaf things again.
If the Leafs had gone up 3-0 they would have started planning the parade.
Lots of own-goals, and exploding sticks. What’s with that, can’t they make sports equipment that doesn’t break in the 21st century 
Ha!
I’m doomscrolling my phone with ESPN on in the background, which is currently showing the national anthem in the Jets @ Stars game 4.
During the national anthem, the crowd shouts out “Stars!” both times the word comes up in the anthem as it’s being sung.
I’m sure you guys already knew they did this, but I actually laughed out loud.
“Whose broad stripes and bright STARS!!!”
Hehehe, yeah. I love that the crowd does that. That song isn’t sacred, by any means. I’ve seen (I think) Carolina do the same with “Red!”. Lousy copycats.
And the Stars have the Jets on the bubble now, the Hurricanes have the Caps on the bubble, and the Oilers have the Golden Knights on the bubble. All 3-1. We could possibly have some pretty short second rounds.
The Stars have a chance at being the most hated team in Canada. Their road to the Cup has them beating Winnipeg, Edmonton and possibly Toronto. 
My Cup final prediction was Panthers v Golden Knights with Vegas winning. That doesn’t look so great, but I am sorry, Leafs fans, this looks ugly and I do think the Panthers take this series.
No real rooting interest in Vegas v Edmonton. While Draisatl is my current favorite player, I also have a lot of swag from the VGK as I happened to be in Las Vegas several times post 2023 cup win.
Toronto’s performance tonight can only be seen as a fiasco. Four of Florida’s six goals were scored by guys who hadn’t scored in the playoffs yet.
That said, if they came back to win two games, it would not be the first time a team bounced back from a disastrous game.
That blown lead in Game 3 is hurting them more than ever.
As a Stars fan who also wanted to see Canada end its Stanley Cup drought, I was pissed to see the Oilers beat Dallas last year in the conference finals and also waste the Cup appearance by not beating the Panthers.
Well, the Oilers move on. They will not be a treat for either Dallas or Winnipeg to face. Looks like Canada’s best hope.
McJesus: 17 points in 11 games.
Who’s the greatest player of all time to not (yet) win a Cup? Connor McDavid is up there, surely. He’s a 3-time MVP, has 1082 points in just nine and a half seasons, 134 points in 85 playoff games and so on and so forth.