Morning Coffee: Bennett emerges as Conn Smythe Trophy favourite at FanDuel

I swear this morning’s coffee just tastes so much better.

The sun is out in Toronto, the brew is hot, and we’re 3-for-3 with our Stanley Cup Final best bets.

Triple espresso.

Coffee money.

Picture me showing up to the drive-thru this morning and I’m the only car in the line.

No time wasted – like Evan Bouchard in Game 3.

No sweat.

Instant gratification.

After leading the Edmonton Oilers with seven shots on goal in Game 1 and eight shots on goal in Game 2, Bouchard continued to climb the ladder with nine shots on goal in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Unfortunately for Oilers Nation, none of those shots found the back of the net, although one nifty attempt towards the front of the goal landed on the stick of Corey Perry, who tucked in his ninth goal of the postseason.

Who would have thought that the 40-year-old Perry would have more goals than Connor McDavid and be one shy of matching Leon Draisaitl for the team lead in these Stanley Cup Playoffs?

Of course, McDavid and Draisaitl still rank 1-2 in the league in scoring with 31 and 29 points this postseason, respectively.

However, Edmonton’s elite superstar tandem combined for zero points and a minus-three rating in a 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 3 last night.

Now the Panthers are two wins away from back-to-back Stanley Cup wins and the Oilers are in a familiar spot with their backs against the wall heading into Game 4.

McDavid and company certainly can’t afford to fly back to Edmonton down 3-1 in the series.

Does Edmonton have enough left in the tank to overcome the juggernaut the Panthers have become?

While the margin for error was so slim in the first two games, it isn’t just Oilers Nation that is overreacting to the most lopsided result of the Stanley Cup Final to date.

This is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday June 10th, 2025.

Sam Bennett Emerges As Conn Smythe Trophy Favourite at FanDuel

The Panthers needed a double overtime win in Game 2 just to avoid falling behind 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Final.

After failing to back the Cats into a corner on home ice, the Oilers suffered their most lopsided Stanley Cup Final loss in franchise history in Game 3.

Nightmare fuel for hockey fans in Edmonton.

The double overtime hero Brad Marchand got the party started with his eighth goal of the postseason just 56 seconds into the first period.

It was the fourth-fastest goal to start a playoff game in franchise history and the fastest in the Stanley Cup Final.

The 37-year-old Marchand is the oldest player in NHL history to score a goal in each of the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final.

His four goals in the first three games are the most by any player 37 or order in Stanley Cup Final history.

After trailing by two goals after one, the veteran Perry cut the deficit to one with a power-play goal less than two minutes into the second period.

The celebration in Edmonton didn’t last long.

Sam Reinhart answered back just a minute and 20 seconds later with his first of the series and fifth of the playoffs.

Four minutes later, public enemy No. 1 Sam Bennett iced the game with his NHL-best 14th goal this postseason.

If there’s a precedent for what Bennett has done heading into unrestricted free agency I can’t remember it.

The 28-year-old pending UFA set another franchise record with at least one goal in four straight playoff games.

He’s also just the fourth player in franchise history to record 20 or more points in a single postseason.

Bennett, who could be found as high as +11000 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at FanDuel, is now +180 as the favourite to win that award this morning.

It’s the first time that a player other than McDavid has been the favourite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at FanDuel since Mikko Rantanen was the frontrunner entering Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

Meanwhile, Marchand’s odds to win the Conn Smythe Trophy were cut from +2100 to +400 last night.

While I have Bennett and Bobrovsky at the top of my Conn Smythe Trophy card, TSN Hockey analyst Martin Biron made the case for Marchand even before Game 3.

Bennett and Marchand are just the second pair of teammates to both score in each of the first three games of a Stanley Cup Final in NHL history.

The fact that they skate on the second and third lines tells you everything you need to know about Florida’s depth and talent.

Meanwhile, the Oilers couldn’t get much going offensively in a five-goal loss that matched their largest ever in a Stanley Cup Final.

McDavid, who is dealing with a nagging injury, left the game after taking a hit from Aaron Ekblad but did return.

Draisaitl didn’t register a single shot on goal for only the third time this postseason.

In fact, Draisaitl didn’t even attempt a shot for just the second time in his playoff career.

It’s just the 13th time that McDavid and Draisaitl both failed to record a point in a postseason game.

The Oilers are 2-11 in those 13 games.

With the loss, Edmonton’s odds to win the Stanley Cup ballooned from -104 to +215 at FanDuel.

Florida to win the Stanley Cup jumped from -115 to -265.

The Panthers opened -154 to win Game 4 on home ice.

That number would match the biggest moneyline favourite so far in the Stanley Cup Final after the Cats closed -154 to win Game 3.

Can the Oilers bounce back with an upset win as a +128 underdog in Game 4 on the road?

If they don’t, they will find themselves in a tough spot needing to win three in a row to win the Stanley Cup.

Historically, teams that win Game 3 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final have gone on to win the series 76.7 per cent of the time with a combined 23-7 record.

However, it’s worth noting that defending champions have been even better in that spot.

When a defending Stanley Cup champion won Game 3 of a series that was tied 1-1, they’ve gone 22-1 all-time.

The only defending champion to win Game 3 of a Stanley Cup Final tied 1-1 and lose the series was the Detroit Red Wings in 2009, which lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven.

As for the Panthers in particular, Florida has lost three playoff games in a row only once over the past three postseasons.

That was in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, when Edmonton fell behind 3-0 in the series only to force a Game 7 on the heels of three straight wins.

Nobody will write off the Oilers after one ugly loss.

However, if McDavid and company don’t bounce back in Game 4 in Florida, Edmonton will face a seemingly insurmountable challenge to keep the Panthers from repeating as Stanley Cup champions.

Have a great day, everyone!