After a long and exciting two months of hockey, only two teams remain in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. On one end of the ice, the Florida Panthers seek to redeem their heartbreaking loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in last year’s Final. On the other, the Edmonton Oilers hope to win their first championship since 1990 — and the first championship for a Canadian team in 31 years. In many ways, this final mirrors the NBA Finals: a deep and experienced team from the East coming off of a finals loss, facing a young and energetic team from the West with two flashy superstars.
While these two teams certainly approach the game in different ways, there’s not much separating them from each other in overall potential, and that should make this series all the more entertaining.
How the Panthers Got Here
The Florida Panthers aren’t flashy, fancy or particularly fun to watch — but they are more effective than just about any cup finalist in recent memory. They are the strongest 5-on-5 team in the league, with solid special teams to boot. They wear down every team they play, and seem to always find a way to win.
On their road to the Final, they knocked off an aging dynasty in the Tampa Bay Lightning, the tough Boston Bruins and, in perhaps the best series of the playoffs, the Presidents’ Trophy winners New York Rangers. The most impressive aspect of this run is that they defeated who many consider to be the three best goaltenders in the postseason: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jeremy Swayman and Igor Shesterkin. They did this mainly by limiting their opponents’ shots, while capitalizing on power plays and other goal-scoring opportunities. While the Oilers’ goalie Stuart Skinner has been solid in recent weeks, he is certainly a step down from the aforementioned shotstoppers. The Panthers will certainly look to attack Skinner with many shots on net throughout the series.
The Panthers are known for their robust physicality and relentless defense. Led by stars Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuck, two playoff-risers known for their tenacity and formidable knack for rattling their opponents, the Panthers certainly know what it takes to win tough games. Tkachuk has had an excellent postseason, leading the team in points with five goals and 14 assists so far, and he enters the Final hungrier than ever to lift the cup. Apart from their superstars, there is an incredible balance and depth in this team, with forwards Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett always stepping up at crucial moments, and defensemen Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling and Brandon Montour holding it down on the other end.
If they want to win this series, the Panthers will need to limit the Oilers’ skill and spacing, maintain a slow pace and control the tempo of the game. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, a Vezina Trophy nominee, has been on fire this postseason, and he will be a crucial component of this series as well.
How the Oilers Got Here
To say that the Edmonton Oilers have had a rocky season would be an understatement. After a horrendous 3-9-1 start to the season, they brought in Kris Knoblauch to replace head coach Jay Woodcroft. The adjustment was everything but smooth, as, by November 24th, the Oilers were 5-12-1 in their first 18 games, and it seemed like yet another disappointing season was on queue for the storied franchise.
Needless to say, the team found themselves soon afterwards. A couple of weeks after Knoblauch took over, the Oilers went on an eight-game win streak, and would later go on a 16-game win streak on their way to a 44-15-5 finish throughout the remainder of the season. They entered the playoffs as the clear hottest team in the league, but remained overlooked by many pundits and fans, largely due to their history of falling short in the postseason.
Three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner Connor McDavid and his co-star Leon Draisaitl have long been the league’s top-scoring duo, but the Oilers’ lack of consistent goaltending and depth has been their undoing in the last few years. This season, all such concerns have been put to bed, as goalie Stuart Skinner has been very solid in net, while assist-machine Evan Bouchard and sniper Zach Hyman have elevated their games dramatically since the playoffs began.
The Oilers faced a very tough road to the Final, starting with an eagerly anticipated matchup against their longtime rival Los Angeles Kings, which they won at home in five games. They followed this up with an impressive comeback win against the favored Vancouver Canucks in this year’s only seven-game series.
Unlike the Panthers, the Oilers rely mainly on speed, offensive firepower and their stars’ individual production. In the Western Conference Final, McDavid showed why he is the best player in the NHL, stepping up to beat the dynamic Dallas Stars in six games. The Oilers’ closeout victory at home in Game 6 was, in my opinion, their most impressive win of the season, as they found a way to win while being outshot 34-10 and outhit 31-15. Throughout the game, the Oilers consistently played to their strengths and dictated the flow of the game, going 2-2 on the power play, with one highlight-reel goal by McDavid, where he cut through several defenders and smashed the puck into the roof of the net. The Oilers’ ten shots on goal were the fewest of any team in a series-clinching game in NHL history, as their two shots in the first period were all they needed to clinch a spot in the Final.
The Oilers’ fierce attack, coupled with an intense home-ice advantage (not to mention having all of Canada on their side), will make them incredibly tough to beat.
My Prediction
Florida and Edmonton could not be more different in playstyle. One plays with speed and firepower, the other plays with grit and physicality; one boasts the two best players, the other has superior depth. But they share an unparalleled clutch gene and voracious desire to win. This matchup has all the makings for an intense, thrilling seven-game series. And the fact that both teams avoided the bad luck of touching their respective Conference Final trophies makes this prediction even trickier.
Ultimately, I think that the team with the greater experience, composure and consistency will pull through in the end, lifting the cup on their home ice.
Panthers in Seven
