As sports fans, the best thing you can probably experience is seeing non-believers finally come around. And that’s exactly what the Florida Panthers fans might be feeling right now. As the defending champs host the Edmonton Oilers, there’s one special face on the rinkside that would definitely make many home fans smile in glee. Or would it be purely a vengeful smirk?

When the 2025 Stanley Cup Finals began, many NHL analysts didn’t believe that the Cats had what it takes to defend the title successfully. Former NBA superstar and basketball analyst Charles Barkley was also among those who had posited that the Panthers wouldn’t go too far in the postseason. Talk about swallowing your own words, huh? And now, as Paul Maurice & Co. warmed up to bring the Cup back home by taking down the Oilers in Game 6, Barkley was on the spot to the Panthers lift the playoffs lift the coveted Stanley Cup, should the Miami team win tonight.

A post by NHLonTNT on X from June 17 shows the celebrity basketball expert at the Amerant Bank Arena to cover today’s Florida Panthers vs Edmonton Oilers match. “Looks like we have a new rinkside reporter for warmups tonight,” reads the caption of the post, as the accompanying image shows Barkley waiting his turn to join the warmup coverage for Game 6 at the Cats’ home arena.

This year’s NHL postseason has been one of the wildest rollercoaster rides in recent memory, and so have been some of the predictions by TNT analysts who have often ruled out both the Panthers and the Oilers from Stanley Cup contention. Barkley, in fact, discounted the Panthers on two occasions.

It wasn’t much different for Barkley either. In the days leading up to the playoffs, the analyst had predicted that the Panthers would be defeated by their in-state arch-rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Even in the second round of the playoffs, he opined that Toronto would get the best of Florida. On the other hand, the NBA Hall of Famer seemed to be a relentless supporter of Kris Knoblauch’s boys. When the Edmonton Oilers won against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference second round, “Sir Charles” could barely hold back his excitement on national TV. “I told y’all the Edmonton Oilers are going to win the Stanley Cup …We are taking the Cup back to Canada,” Barkley declared on the sets of Inside the NBA.

However, tonight, he did seem to be somewhat warming up to the Cats. During the warmup coverage, Barkley even showed special appreciation for the Panthers’ goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky (whose name he pronounced without flaw). “He’s the main reason they here,” the NBA icon was heard saying. And yet, he couldn’t help but hope for the Oilers’ win. “We need a Game 7!” Barkley kept yelling. But as the game progressed, his hopes were soundly buried by the reigning champs.

The Edmonton Oilers couldn’t reciprocate Barkley’s support

Early in the first period, the puck was poorly given away by Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard, and the Cats’ Sam Reinhart capitalized on the mistake. With a sublime finish from Stuart Skinner’s glove side, Reinhart put Florida in front. When the Oilers announced that Skinner would be returning to guard the net in Game 6, many fans were worried that it would result in disaster for the Cup challengers, and it didn’t take long to make it apparent that the fans’ skepticism wasn’t misguided.

Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe kept the Edmonton Oilers on their toes while also doing their best to break Skinner’s morale in every way possible. With 46.4 remaining in the first period, Matthew Tkachuk took advantage of Evan Bouchard’s bad turnover and brought the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Late in the second period, Reinhart scored his second goal of the night, after Barkov caught the puck from Skinner’s defense rebound and made the pass to the Canadian.

Neither Leon Draisaitl nor team captain Connor McDavid could make much impact in the game. At the time of writing, the Panthers are up by 4 goals, and the Oilers look like they have already accepted their fate. In the dying minutes of the game, Reinhart made it a hat-trick by scoring into an empty net. One final nail to Barkley’s enthusiasm to see the Oilers win, you could say! Or do you suspect there’s more to come? Tell us in a comment!