The Stanley Cup Playoffs are down to two teams: the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers. It’s a kind of worst-case scenario for Calgary Flames fans. On the one hand, you have your bitter rival. On the other, your two highest draft picks in franchise history having success on a different team. Because of this, we wanted to ask Flames fans which outcome they were rooting for. Are the majority of fans rooting for one team in particular? Or are they rooting for one of the teams to lose?
We asked, and you answered.
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What Stanley Cup Final outcome are you rooting for?
From a Flames perspective, what Stanley Cup outcome are you rooting for the most? The options that followed:
- Panthers winning,
- Panthers losing,
- Oilers winning, or
- Oilers losing
Panthers winning
Panthers winning was the option that received the most votes, with 49.4%. This isn’t a surprising result, given the alternative available. If you aren’t mad at Matthew Tkachuk for choosing not to re-sign with the Flames a few years ago, why not root for the Panthers?
They’ve built a very strong team over the last decade. Aleksander Barkov is the best two-way centre in the entire league. Gustav Forsling is one of the best two-way defencemen in the league. They’ve got scoring depth and play an aggressive and fast playstyle. And the best part of it all is that they aren’t the Oilers.
Panthers losing
1.5% of respondents voted for the Panthers to lose. The Panthers haven’t done anything wrong to the Flames, so it’s no surprise this result is so low. That 1.5% is probably just a few Oilers fans who saw this poll come onto their feed. I hope. If you had the choice between either of these teams to lose, the answer is pretty obvious, right?
Oilers winning
A disgusting 5.5% of respondents voted for the Oilers to win. This could be another case of a few Oilers fans seeing this on their feed. But, I have heard of a few Flames fans who are cheering for the Oilers to see the Cup come back to Canada and Alberta. It’s a horrific thought. In my opinion, the Cup can wait another year before coming back to Canada. But hey, if you want to root for your team’s bitter rival, all the power to you.
Oilers losing
This is the answer that I assumed would generate the most votes. However, it finished with the second-highest votes, securing 43.7%. Flames fans are praying for the Oilers’ downfall. I kind of get this response. If you don’t really care about either team, rooting for your rival to lose makes sense, right? I think most could care less if the Panthers or any other team in the Eastern Conference won the Cup. But the alternative? Absolutely not.
Photo from Sportsnet on X
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