The NHL is to blame for a disgusting Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals

Photo by Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

This was dumb.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals was such a dirty, sloppy mess to the extent that it stopped being fun to watch. A total of 140 penalty minutes and one ejection were handed out as the Oilers failed spectacularly to beat Florida at their own game, with the tactic backfiring, as it has for so many teams before. The Panthers won mentally, which in turn caused the Oilers to destroy themselves en route to a 6-1 beatdown in Sunrise.

There’s nothing wrong with physical hockey, but it was beyond the pale. The breakdown of physical penalties on Monday night was comical:

Tripping: 2
Cross-Checking: 4
High-Sticking: 2
Roughing: 8
Hooking: 1
Slashing: 1
Fighting: 2
Charging: 1
Misconduct: 8

In total there were 35 penalties called, with 21 being assessed against Edmonton and 14 against Florida. By the time the game reached the third and everything devolved into madness there were only 3 minutes and 26 seconds in the period that were played without a penalty being called. The most shameful moment of the game came when Kasperi Kapanen was ejected for misconduct and a Florida fan thought it was okay to pour a beer on him as he exited the ice.

Sure, on some level you can blame this on Edmonton. After all, they were the team trying to assert themselves so the series wouldn’t slip through their fingers as it did in 2024 — but Game 3 was a symptom of a disease the NHL has been incubating for years in Florida. It’s routine that teams are given more leniency in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, because nobody wants to see ticky-tack penalties influence critical games, but the Paul Maurice Panthers have turned relaxed officiating into their identity, routinely seeing how dirty they can play and walking that tightrope better than their opponents can.

It’s a genius strategy that works, because teams can’t just get slashed and cross-checked without reprisal, but Florida understands the exact point where they can play dirty without taking too many damaging penalties. It’s precisely for this reason that Brad Marchand mocked the Oilers in the third period about Edmonton not being smart. It was his way of saying “we’re dirty, but we know the line.”

The officiating disparity is hugely problematic for the future of the NHL Playoffs. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the Panthers leveraging everything the league will allow to get wins. In fact, it’s a genius strategy — but that doesn’t mean it’s good for the league. The Panthers have now been to the Stanley Cup Finals three years in a row after being an imperfect regular season team.

2022-23: 8th in the East, made the finals
2023-24: 3rd in the East, made the finals
2024-25: 5th in the East, made the finals

The Panthers led the NHL in penalty minutes per game during the regular season with 10.4 minutes per game. The Oilers were 22nd in the league with 7.5 minutes per game. In this series Edmonton’s number has swelled to 26.3 minutes per game. They’re completely out of their element, feel like they’re forced to match Florida in aggression and physicality, but it’s a bit like Batman trying to fight Bane — the Panthers were moulded by the darkness.

It feels like a foregone conclusion that Florida will win this series. They deserve to, because they’ve found a cheat code to win cups. That doesn’t mean it’s good for hockey, and something has to change moving forward if we don’t want to see every team in the league adopt a strategy of trying to out-dirty each other when games matter the most.