The Florida Panthers have their eyes on making history by repeating as Stanley Cup champions. But they know it won’t be easy.
The defending champs will face the Edmonton Oilers, the team they outlasted in a seven-game Final last June, in this year’s championship round beginning Wednesday night in Edmonton. Both teams are firing on all cylinders after five-game victories in their respective conference finals, scoring more than they did in the first three rounds a year ago and playing solid defense.
The Panthers have already made some history by qualifying for the Final for the third straight season. A second straight Final victory against the Oilers would make them just the ninth team in NHL history to win two or more consecutive championships.
After failing to win the Cup in their first 30 NHL seasons, beating the Oilers in the Final for the second straight year would give them the chance to become a dynasty. They can’t wait.
“We got a taste of what it’s like,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said of winning the Cup during Media Day on Tuesday, “and once you get a taste, you just want more.”
The Panthers feel they’re better than last year’s team because they know what it feels like to lose in the Final, as they did in five games against the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, as well as what it feels like to win the most prized trophy in sports. Doing so wasn’t easy; Florida won the first three games but lost the next three before a 2-1 home victory in Game 7.
“The first time we were just excited to be there and maybe that moment might have been too big and we were just too content with just being there,” said forward Sam Bennett, whose 10 goals this spring lead all scorers. “Now there’s still a job to do — and we’re not going to be content until that job is done.”
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Though they’re the defending champs, Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk feels his team is the underdog against the Connor McDavid-led Oilers, who haven’t won the Cup since 1990, when they beat the Boston Bruins in five games to cap a run of five championships in seven years.
“Absolutely,” he said Tuesday. “We’ll continue riding that underdog role. We have so far.”
The Oilers have the home-ice advantage after finishing with 101 points in the regular season, three more than the Panthers. Each team finished third in its respective division, Edmonton in the Pacific, Florida in the Atlantic. Each has won a series after losing the first two games – the Oilers in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings, the Panthers in the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Panthers will be trying to win the Cup despite starting each of their four series on the road. They are 8-2 away from Amerant Bank Arena, including 5-0 since dropping Games 1 and 2 against the Maple Leafs in Toronto, and are averaging 4.80 goals in those 10 road games.
“They’ve earned the right to have home ice. They had a better regular season than us, so we’re here starting in Edmonton,” Tkachuk said. “It’s not something that we’re new to. We’ve started on the road each round in these playoffs. Hopefully we can use that [experience] to our advantage.”
With three straight trips to the Final and the chance to win back-to-back championships, Tkachuk said motivation is not a problem.
“I mean, it’s the Stanley Cup. It’s the most motivating thing in sports,” said Tkachuk, who has 16 points in Florida’s 17 postseason games. “We’re not content with just going to the finals. We want to be a championship caliber team, year in and year out.”
Coach Paul Maurice, who last year won the first championship in 29 seasons behind an NHL bench, agreed that the Panthers are anything but content.
“I couldn’t articulate very well the experience of last year prior to [winning], and then it happens and you have this incredible experience with your group of guys that you care so much about,” said Maurice, the third-winningest coach in NHL history with 916 victories. “And then they come back next year, and you say, ‘God, I want to do it again.’ It’s such a wonderful thing.”
The Panthers, who helped themselves by adding forward Brad Marchand from the Bruins before the NHL Trade Deadline, feel they’re better because they have more firepower than last year. Florida has averaged 3.88 goals per game through the first three rounds, up from 3.24 through three rounds last year. They also have 19 unique goal-scorers, up from 14 a year ago.
“We play the exact same style, but if anything we’re maybe deeper,” said Bennett, whose 85 hits are the most among any player who will skate in the Final (Oilers forward Zach Hyman is tops with 111 but won’t play because of an injury). “You’ve seen it all playoffs long, we’ve had guys from the fourth line right through the first line to all our ‘D’ chipping in on offense. That’s really helped.”
They’re doing it while still being stingy defensively, allowing 39 goals (including three empty-netters) through 17 games for a 2.11 goals-against average, down from 2.29 through three rounds last year. But the Oilers, led by McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, are averaging 4.06 goals in their 16 games and also have 19 unique goal-scorers, up from 16 through three rounds last year.
“We’re three years into this, they’re two years into it,” Tkachuk said. “It should be a great series.”
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