The Matchup Is Set: Panthers, Oilers Will Meet In The Stanley Cup Final

There is serious star power on both sides. Florida has Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart and Sergei Bobrovsky among its leaders; Edmonton has McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, and Nugent-Hopkins among its top draws.

Tkachuk came to Florida in a trade from Calgary in 2022 and famously discussed the ties that bind—or don’t bind—hockey in Alberta at his introductory news conference with the Panthers, saying, “I hate Edmonton, but I hate Tampa more now.”

Olers | AP news Image

The Matchup Is Set: Panthers, Oilers Will Meet In The Stanley Cup Final

This season’s playoff run for Tkachuk and Florida started with Tampa Bay, a five-game win. It’ll end with Edmonton, and Tkachuk will surely be welcomed back to Alberta less than warmly.

“Nothing better than playing hockey in June,” Tkachuk said.

McDavid’s first Stanley Cup Final game will be in the building where he officially pulled on an NHL sweater for the first time. He was the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft, held in the building that the Panthers call home. Commissioner Gary Bettman was there to greet him with a handshake and a few words of congratulations when he took the stage that night — “this is awesome,” Bettman told him — and in a couple of weeks, Bettman will hand either McDavid or Barkov the Stanley Cup for the first time, the moment that captains in the NHL want to enjoy most.

“Feels like a dream, honestly,” McDavid said.

A slew of names will be etched onto the Cup for the first time when this series is over since hardly anyone on either side has previously been part of a championship.

For Florida, Vladimir Tarasenko won with St. Louis in 2019 and Carter Verhaeghe with Tampa Bay in 2020. For Edmonton, Corey Perry won it with Anaheim in 2007 — and is now back in the title round for the fourth time in five years, with a fourth different franchise. He lost with Dallas in 2020, Montreal in 2021, and Tampa Bay in 2022.

Oilers | CTV News Image

The Matchup Is Set: Panthers, Oilers Will Meet In The Stanley Cup Final

“It’s unbelievable, being back in the finals,” Tarasenko said.

Neither head coach has won the Cup, either. Florida’s Paul Maurice has coached 1,978 games in the NHL, which is third-most in league history; Edmonton’s Kris Knoblauch has officially coached 87 games, which is tied for 275th-most in league history. He filled in as coach for the Rangers in six other games in 2021, called up from the team’s American Hockey League affiliate because then-Rangers coach David Quinn and his staff were sidelined by COVID-19 protocols.

The Panthers won both games against the Oilers this season, 5-3 at home on Nov. 20 and 5-1 at Edmonton on Dec. 16. Knoblauch took over as coach after 13 games this season when Edmonton fired Jay Woodcroft following a 3-9-1 start; the only opposing coaches Knoblauch didn’t beat this season were Maurice and Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper, going 0-2-0 against both.

Oilers | AP News Image

The Matchup Is Set: Panthers, Oilers Will Meet In The Stanley Cup Final

“Last year, after we finished the Carolina series, trying to find the right word … pandemonium is not the right word, but the energy level postgame was through the roof,” Maurice said, comparing this year’s East title win to last season’s victory in that round. “Slightly subdued this year relative to that. It was lots of happy people. But maybe we’ve got a little more experience now. And I feel that way, even on the bench. It wasn’t insanity. When the buzzer went, it was excitement, and rightfully so. We worked pretty hard to win.”

The hardest challenge of them all starts in Sunrise on Saturday night.

SOURCE – (AP)