🔥 Grudge match

The Oilers aren’t just in a grudge match with the Panthers, they’re getting a second shot at snapping Canada’s embarrassingly long Stanley Cup drought.  

The last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, Bill Nye the Science Guy made his TV debut, and a little something called the World Wide Web was released to the public. 

So yeah, it’s been a while. 

Rewind: The Oilers came painfully close to ending that drought last year. After the Florida Panthers went up 3-0 in the series and looked like they were already picking out their rings, Edmonton took the next three to force Game 7. 

• But, the Cinderella story wasn’t to be. The Panthers took Game 7 to win their first-ever Stanley Cup and Canada’s three-decade drought continued. 

Fast-forward a year, those same two teams have found themselves right back in the final.

• And this year, Edmonton isn’t taking any chances with the hockey gods.

• Before puck drop on Wednesday, the team harvested ice from the hometown rinks of six players — including Connor McDavid — and mixed it into the arena in Edmonton. Superstitious? Extremely. Does it hurt to try? I guess not. 

The Oilers got off to a good start to their redemption tour with a come-from-behind OT win over the Panthers Wednesday night. 

• Leon Draisaitl, who now leads the league in playoff scoring, netted the OT winner for his second goal of the night. The goal was his third OT winner in this year’s playoffs, tying the all-time record. 

Big picture: It’s rare in sports that you get a chance to rewrite history — especially when you were on the losing side of it — but that’s the opportunity Edmonton has in front of them right now. If they can pull off three more wins, they’ll not only flip the script on last year's loss, they’ll forever be the team that snapped the longest Stanley Cup drought in Canada’s history.

🏆 It's the NBA Finals, sponsored by Paul George. The Indiana Pacers and OKC Thunder are duking it out in this year's finals, and both teams' have Paul George trades to thank for it. Indiana flipped George for Domantas Sabonis — who they then traded to the Kings for their star-guard Tyrese Haliburton. OKC famously dealt PG to the Clippers for this year's MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (and a million first round picks). Either way this series shakes out, the winner should send Paul George a ring and a bottle of wine. 

🤖 Robot umps are coming. MLB is reportedly pushing to have an automated-ball-and-strike challenge system by next season. Basically, a hitter, pitcher, or catcher would be able to challenge a ball or strike call and within a few seconds, the robots send the correct call down to the field. Each team gets two challenges per game and you get to keep it if you get it right. Pretty soon, we’re gonna be telling our kids about the good ol’ days when we were allowed to scream at our TVs over blown calls. 

🏀 Giannis and KD are on the block. Giannis is on the record saying he’s "open-minded" about finding a new home this offseason, and according to some reports, there’s mutual interest in a deal with Toronto. Meanwhile, the Suns have recently lowered their asking price for Kevin Durant, with the Rockets, Knicks, and Timberwolves emerging as top landing spots. 

⚾️ Baseball is hot in the streets. MLB is making a serious comeback in the ratings department — and right now, it’s not just because it's the only major sport to watch. Compared to last year, viewership is up across the board — FOX is up 10%, ESPN’s up 22%, and TBS jumped 16%, including a nearly 70% spike in young viewers. 

🎾 The French Open has been a slaughtering. All tournament, the two top ranked players in the world, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, have made their competition look like 12-year-olds playing against their dads. I’d be shocked if these two weren’t in the finals on Sunday trading 120 mph blows. 

Cooper Flagg bagged $28 million in NIL deals in his one year at Duke. That’s more than Jalen Brunson, Draymond Green, and Aaron Gordon were all paid by their teams last season.  

• Apparently, all that cash came from just two brand deals: $13 million from New Balance and another $15 mill from Fanatics.

The homeless A’s have lost 20 of their last 21 games. Yup, there’s now a baseball team that makes the Rockies look respectable.  

• The A’s were 22-20 before the skid started — going from 3rd in the wild card race to the second worst team in the AL. 

The Dodgers were beating the Yankees so badly Ohtani took a nap. With his Dodgers pumping the Yanks 18-2, Shohei managed to sneak in a quick dugout power nap. 

• I guess beating the brakes off another team can get pretty tiring.

On this day in 2007, the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history, spanking the Ottawa Senators 6-2 in Game 5 to take the cup.

To put into perspective just how old he is, current Edmonton Oiler Corey Perry scored a goal in that game. Legend.

Think about this: NHL, MLB and NBA teams sometimes have to grind out more playoff games to win their league championships than NFL teams play the whole year. Not saying it’s easy, but winning three or playoff games just isn’t the same.

Alright, that’s enough yelling for one Friday.

Got a hotter take? Think we missed something? Want to argue that the Leafs are actually cursed by a 1932 ghost?

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Forward it to a friend who lives for the group chat debate.