The Florida Panthers are back in the Stanley Cup Final, looking to take the final step this time around.
They face myriad salary cap issues after this season. so this may be their best shot at bringing the Cup to the edge of the Florida Everglades.
“We expected to be back here,†Our Town’s Matthew Tkachuk said. “Obviously, nothing’s guaranteed, but we were expecting this the way we’ve been working, the way we’ve been dialed in and detailed. We’re very happy to be back, but the job’s not finished.â€
Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Vladimir Tarasenko, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe . . . the Panthers are loaded up front. They are experienced and talented on the blue line, too, and Sergei Bobrovsky had a terrific season in goal.Ìý
But the Edmonton Oilers will counter with the NHL's most dynamic duo. They finally reached the championship round with superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl leading the way.
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At long last a Canadian team is playing for the Cup. At this point the Oilers are riding a hot goaltender in Stuart Skinner, so this is their time to go for it.
This series is going to be fun.
Like the Blues during their epic 2019 run, these Oilers became hardened through adversity. They had to overcome a brutal 2-9-1 start to reach the playoffs.
“You go into the year with the expectation that you're one of the best teams in the league and you're going to go to the Stanley Cup Final,†Oilers winger Zach Hyman said. “Then, all of a sudden, you’re 12 games into the season, you’re second-last in the league and it's like, ‘What happened? What's going on?’
“To be able to battle back from that spot, you build character. You build strength mentally, to be able to handle situations later in the year —Ìýwhether you think at the time it will or not. It does.â€
In the bracket, the Men of Oil had to overcame the Vancouver Canucks -- who were playing at the top of their game for coach Rick Tocchet -– and the deep Dallas Stars.
“We’ve done a really good job at not being fragile in playoff series’,†Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “We had an emotional, tough loss in Game 1 against Vancouver, but we didn’t let that linger. Those early lessons in the year help you with that.â€
Here is what folks are writing about this matchup:
Anthony Trudeau, Daily Faceoff: “The Panthers must deal with the double-edged sword of being the first returning runner-up since 2009. On one hand, they’ve been here before, and the journey back has made them even more battle-tested. On the other, the prospect of once again falling short at the final hurdle is almost too much to bear.Ìý A core leadership group of Barkov, Bobrovsky, and Tkachuk should keep this team locked in, but the sting of last year’s defeat still bothers them. With so many bargain contracts set to expire in just weeks, they won’t get a better chance to make things right. Across the continent in Alberta, outside factors weigh heavily on the Oilers. The best player on the planet has no Cup in eight seasons, and with Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl due raises that will take up more than $20 million in cap space after next season, he’s running out of chances in Edmonton. Then there’s the Canadian drought, which no one in the locker room or the city cares about but will remain a narrative every year until it ends.â€
Emily Kaplan, : “Oilers stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl haven’t shied away from the pressures their team faces, especially in a highly scrutinized Canadian market. After also being eliminated by the Golden Knights last spring, they both declared: Cup or Bust in 2024. And then, it was a horrific start to the season. They began 2-9-1, tied for last place in the league. That lead management to fire coach Jay Woodcroft to try to get things going. Enter Kris Knoblauch, who has a calming demeanor. Knoblauch, who spent five years running the New York Rangers' minor league affiliate, is known for his communication style in empowering players . . . Knoblauch was also McDavid's junior coach. And even though McDavid is the best player in the world and could command preferential treatment, he never wants to be treated differently than anybody. I'm told that McDavid hated the narrative that he was behind the coaching change -- especially since McDavid's former agent, Jeff Jackson, took over as CEO of hockey operations for the Oilers last summer.”
Ian Mendes, The Athletic: “An Oilers championship — while erasing a 31-year drought for a Canadian-based team — does nothing for any other fan base in this country. Cities like Ottawa, Vancouver and Winnipeg, who have never hoisted a Stanley Cup, don’t receive partial credit for an Oilers championship. And if anything, an Edmonton Stanley Cup championship will only further enrage Toronto fans, who are closing in on six decades without a title. But if there is one reason we should be collectively pulling in Canada for an Oilers Stanley Cup this month, it would be toÌýend this ridiculous notion that we’re all waiting for the Stanley Cup to come home.â€
Ryan Lambert, EP Rinkside: “You do not have to be a genius to understand what makes the Florida Panthers so successful. They have a deep and scary forward group, a very strong blue line, and solid if unspectacular goaltending. The way they play, they are going to get like 53-plus percent of the expected goals over a long enough timeline, and they have the skill at both ends of the ice to outperform that number pretty consistently. They've been outplayed in terms of all-situations expected goals just five times in 17 games this postseason, which is a marked improvement from what they did in their last run to the Cup Final, and gives them the air of a team that really is just churning through these wins — most of them tight, admittedly — like it's not that big of a deal. No one is really built to win one-goal games because if they were, year-to-year results for that sort of thing wouldn't be so random, but the Panthers do seem built to jump on a team early and then deny, deny, deny any offence coming the other way. They're 7-2 when scoring first in these playoffs, which is about as good as it gets.â€
Dan Rosen, : “There's no doubt the sight of the Oilers, of McDavid and Leon Drasaitl, bothers forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett more than most players on the Panthers. Tkachuk and Bennett for years played against the Oilers in the Battle of Alberta during their time with the Flames; Tkachuk from 2016-22 and Bennett from 2015-21. Tkachuk had 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in 28 games against the Oilers when he played for the Flames. Bennett had 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 27 games. Tkachuk played against the Oilers in the second round of the 2022 playoffs. He had a hat trick in Game 1, a wild 9-6 win for Calgary, but the Oilers won the next four games to take the series. Draisaitl had 17 points in that series. McDavid had 12. Here's a chance for redemption, even if that series may seem like a lifetime ago for Tkachuk.”
Adam Vingan, Sportsnet: “The Panthers’ acquisition of Tkachuk in the summer of 2022 played an outsized role in changing the trajectory of the franchise. Under coach Paul Maurice, who arrived in Sunrise a month before Tkachuk, Florida ditched its rush-based attack for a more in-your-face approach, pummeling opponents below the goal line and pouncing on turnovers. Tkachuk, who has 30 points in 37 career regular-season and playoff games against the Oilers, embodies that hard-nosed style. His production over the past two post-seasons is rivaled by few others.â€
Heather Wei-Xi Chen, The Defector: “He’s definitely had to learn how to be the right kind of pest, but the great thing for you, prospective Panthers bandwagoner, is that Tkachuk has reached that sweet spot where you can want him for your own team, even if he sucks to play against.ÌýThese days, he's still looking to sneak punches after the whistle, but now his value as a two-way player proves him to be more than just a heel. Matthew Tkachuk is, unfortunately or fortunately, quite fun to watch, and it’s good that he’s entertaining off the ice, too, so there's never really an offseason.â€
MEGAPHONE
“This year, I truly feel like being down in the trenches —Ìýto hit rock bottom —Ìýyou learn a lot about your teammates. You learn a lot about yourself and your team, lessons we’ve been able to apply.
Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm.