Is the NHL rigged? Analyzing claims made by Florida Panthers fans as Vegas Golden Knights close in on Stanley Cup success

Regardless of what Florida Panthers fans are saying, the NHL is not rigged.

After most playoff series end, the losing teams' fans often claim it was rigged against them as they point to a minor penalty that was called or a missed penalty that wasn't called. However, those calls go both ways and the NHL is far from rigged as there is too much money and people involved for that to work.

But let's take a look at what some Panthers fans have had to say.

Florida Panthers fans claim NHL is rigged

Throughout the Stanley Cup Finals, the Florida Panthers have been receiving more penalties and 10-minute misconducts. With that, Panthers fans have been claiming it is rigged because of that.

Although Florida Panthers fans think the NHL is rigged because of the calls made, Florida head coach Paul Maurice has said they have been too physical, and being too physical often leads to penalties.

"I think the Boston series was more physical than this series," Maurice said. "I think we've made this series more physical than it needs to be. We had 22 hits in the first period in Game 2. Prorate that out, and you don't need 66 hits in a game.

"As a matter of fact, there's an energy cost to that. We have hitters ... but I don't necessarily need Carter Verhaeghe to have five."

Yet, Maurice does think some of the calls have been bad, but he won't get into that.

"I don't think physicality and discipline have necessarily anything to do with each other," Maurice said. "Discipline is a touchy subject right now for us, and we'll just leave it at that."

Although Paul Maurice thinks some calls have been iffy, Anthony Duclair says they are taking some dumb penalties and need to be smarter.

"We just need to be a little smarter in certain situations," Duclair said. "Last thing we want to do is keep getting penalties and putting those guys on the power play.

"Obviously, they've got tons of skill, tons of talent, and can make us pay. We're going to see a little smarter hockey tonight out of us."

Along with the penalties, some fans have also claimed the NHL is rigged because the Vegas Golden Knights were good right away after being an expansion team.

Some fans think the NHL has rigged it so expansion teams are good right away, which means the NHL can make other expansion teams pay more money when they come in.

Although many NHL fans believe the Stanley Cup Final is rigged, the truth is the Vegas Golden Knights have just been the better team against the Florida Panthers so far.