Sports Media Report
Carter Verhaeghe scored a series-high five goals, including the game winner in the seventh game as Florida topped Edmonton, four games to three as Strat-O-Matic (@strat-o-matic), the market leader in sports simulation games, simulated the NHL championship series which begins Saturday in Sunrise, Fla.
Florida got off to a fast start in the series, taking the first two at home by counts of 5-4 and 6-2. The Panthers won the opener on a tiebreaking goal by Anton Lundell midway through the third period, then used two goals in each period and sharp goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky (32 saves) for the Game 2 triumph.
When the scene switched north of the border, Edmonton rebounded with two straight wins, 3-1 and 5-2, with Connor McDavid scoring four, including a hat trick in Game 4, then won at Florida, 2-1, to get to within a game of the title.
But Florida scored four unanswered third-period goals to erase a 4-1 Oilers lead in Game 6 to send it back to the Sunshine State, where Verhaegue’s marker with 12:39 left broke a 2-2 tie before tallies by Matthew Tkachuk, his fourth of the series, and Gustav Forsling, iced Game 7 at 5-2.
Edmonton was led by McDavid’s five goals and four by Zach Hyman.
Game 1 1 2 3 F
Edmonton 3 0 1 – 4
Florida 3 0 2 – 5
Game 2 1 2 3 F
Edmonton 1 0 1 – 2
Florida 2 2 2 – 6
Game 3 1 2 3 F
Florida 0 0 1 – 1
Edmonton 2 0 1 – 3
Game 4 1 2 3 F
Florida 1 0 1 – 2
Edmonton 2 1 2 – 5
Game 5 1 2 3 F
Edmonton 1 1 0 – 2
Florida 0 0 1 – 1
Game 6 1 2 3 F
Florida 0 1 4 – 5
Edmonton 3 1 0 – 4
Game 7 1 2 3 F
Edmonton 0 2 0 – 2
Florida 2 0 3 – 5
