Panthers and Oilers are now more
alike as their Stanley Cup Final rematch arrives
[May 31, 2025]
By STEPHEN WHYNO
A year ago when the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers met in the
Stanley Cup Final, they were polar opposites in everything from
climate, market and franchise history to deep-run experience and
toughness.
Since Florida won that series in seven games for its first
championship, much has changed to make these opponents much more
alike.
The Panthers have added talent and skill, and the Oilers have gotten
older and become harder to play against. Those changes set the stage
for an compelling rematch. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Edmonton.
“These are the two nastiest teams left,” 2003 Cup winner Mike Rupp
said. “They don’t seem to get rattled, they play with a lot of
intensity — sometimes they cross the line. They just defend well.
There’s a lot of things that they’re different than one another
about, but at the core of it, they’re pretty similar to each other.”
Comparing the two
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl haven't gone anywhere, but they've
also been through the heartbreak of forcing Game 7 against the
Panthers and falling short of the goal they've been hunting over the
past decade together. With Trent Frederic, Jeff Skinner, John
Klingberg and Jake Walman, the Oilers are bigger and more seasoned
for this.
“They’re meaner,” said retired defenseman Jason Demers, who like
Rupp is now an NHL Network analyst. “They have a little bite to
their game — a lot more bite than last year where they were a little
bit more speedy.”
Florida can be speedy, opportunistic and dangerous — and has been
over the past few postseasons — winning 10 of 11 series since coach
Paul Maurice took over and winger Matthew Tkachuk arrived after a
trade from Calgary.
The Panthers are in the final for a third consecutive year, losing
to Vegas in 2023 only after Tkachuk, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and
others were banged up to the point that they had nothing left in the
tank. They were the underdog back then.
With one successful Cup run complete and with Seth Jones and Brad
Marchand added to the core led by Tkachuk and captain Aleksander
Barkov, they now look unstoppable.
“They're a heck of a team,” McDavid said after beating Dallas to win
the Western Conference Final. “Obviously, it's their third finals.
They're a special group. We're a special group. It's going to be
fun."
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Florida Panthers players celebrate a goal by Sam Reinhart, not
shown, during the second period of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley
Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, Monday, June 24, 2024, in
Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
Rough and tumble
It also could be physical. The Oilers lost hard-nosed winger Zach
Hyman to a long-term injury late in the series against the Stars,
but they are more prepared now to play the rough-and-tumble style
Florida has won with.
The fact that it's a rematch in the final — the NHL's first since
Pittsburgh beat Detroit in the second of their back-to-backs in 2009
— only spices things up. There have only been four rematches in the
Final since 1968.
“I don’t think there’ll be any weeding out or wading into that
series,” Demers said. “I think it’s going to be gun shot, explosions
right off the bat.”
Going down two games to none last year led to McDavid's
profanity-laced outburst in the locker room, a moment caught on
cameras that wasn't quite enough to turn around the series. The
memory of going down 3-0, clawing back to cross the continent again
for a Game 7 and not winning is still fresh in his mind.
The Oilers have been through that trip to the final and feel the
pain now, something the Panthers endured before winning. Now it's
time to see if they learn the same lesson and change the result.
“Edmonton now, I think they needed to experience last year to get to
where they’re at now and they’re kind of unflappable,” Rupp said. “I
think that’s a weapon for them.”
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