Panthers-Oilers Set For Stanley Cup Final Rematch

Feeling deja vu?

If you didn’t find the 2024 Stanley Cup Final entertaining, keep the tv off for the next few weeks.

The Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers will meet again in the Stanley Cup Final for the second-consecutive season.

It will undoubtedly be hard to match the entertainment value of last season’s series. Florida winning the Cup seemed all but certain after they went up 3-0; two weeks later there was a winner-take-all seventh game after the Oilers staved off elimination three times.

Last year’s Cup winning Panthers are making their third straight appearance in the Final after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final in five games.

The Oilers, who also became conference champions in just five games against the Dallas Stars, return to the Stanley Cup Final after coming up short in a 2-1 Game 7 loss last year in Sunrise.

What’s new?

In 2024, the Panthers had the home-ice advantage in the series — which eventually led to them winning the Cup at their own barn in Game 7.

This time around the series will start in Edmonton as the Oilers finished the regular season as a higher seed than the Panthers.

As Matthew Tkachuk put it, Florida has some “fresh blood” that has played big contributions for them this postseason. In-season trade acquisitions Brad Marchand and Seth Jones are prime examples of new guys that added a jolt to the defending champions’ game.

“I got to give a lot of credit to the new guys, whether they’ve been here for the whole year or a bit of the year,” Tkachuk said on Wednesday after the Panthers won the Eastern Conference. “This is nothing ag

ainst the guys that aren’t here. But you know, we needed that fresh blood and that fresh energy, and the guys that are fresh and hungry.

“We’re hungry coming back obviously, but you get those new guys that help put you over the edge to get to this point right now. So [I] got to give them a lot of credit. We wouldn’t be here without them.”

Defenseman Jake Walkman and waiver pickup Kasperi Kapanen are two Oilers playoff contributors who weren’t with the team last season. Unfortunately for Edmonton they will be without arguably their third best forward Zach Hyman for the series after he was injured in the Western Conference Final. Offseason signing Jeff Skinner, who played in just two games this postseason, may be relied on more now that Hyman is out.

Some things stay the same

Just one year separate from their last matchup, the core of both teams is largely intact.

Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky haven’t slowed down as the Panthers kept the Prince of Wales Trophy in South Florida for the third-consecutive year.

On the other side, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Stuart Skinner lead an Edmonton team that is looking for vengeance in the rematch.

While the loss of Hyman will be a huge blow for the Oilers, they did bolster their blue line entering the SCF rematch. After being sidelined since April 11 with an undisclosed injury, top-pair defenseman Mattias Ekholm made his 2025 playoff debut in Game 5 of the Conference Finals. Ekholm, 35, will be heavily relied on in the Cup Final.

Series Schedule 

As of now we know Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final will be on Wednesday, June 4 at 8 p.m. EST in Edmonton.

All games will be at 8 p.m. EST for the seires.

The rest of the slate is as follows:

Game 2 — Friday, June 6 at Edmonton

Game 3 — Monday, June 9 at Florida

Game 4 — Thursday, June 12 at Florida

Game 5* — Saturday, June 14 at Edmonton

Game 6* — Tuesday, June 17 at Florida

Game 7* — Friday, June 20 at Edmonton

*IF NECESSARY