ANALYSIS: Hockey in June is compelling, even with Jets out of playoffs
It's hard to imagine, but it took 1,312 regular-season games, and 78 more in the playoffs, to get to the same two teams playing for the Stanley Cup: the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers.
And for teams from opposite sides of the league, and completely different geographies, this series is set up to potentially be one of the best in decades. The contrasts and contradictions and storylines are fascinating.
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The loquacious Panthers coach Paul Maurice versus the reserved Kris Knoblauch. Great players on both sides — Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl versus Florida's Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk — teams that both found great success in these playoffs with the depth on their rosters.
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Perhaps the biggest perceived advantage is in goal. For Florida, Sergei Bobrovsky (you would think) has an advantage over Stuart Skinner. But all Skinner has done is win game after game, with an exaggerated save percentage since regaining his form against Vegas in Round 2.
There's also the amazing play of two grizzled veterans, the Oilers' Corey Perry and Panthers' Brad Marchand, who have both been integral to their team's success without changing their style one little bit. Both will drag their teams into the fight.
And of course, the biggest storyline: can the Edmonton Oilers bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993?
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While the city of Edmonton is already in a frenzy, it will take a few games, maybe three, for the rest of the country to catch up. Winnipeg Jets fans, Ottawa Senators fans, fans of all the Canadian teams, in fact, will look enviously at what the Oilers are doing before jumping on the bandwagon for Connor and company.
But it will happen. Last season's series proved that hockey in June, even if it's not your favourite Canadian team, can grip the nation. And by the time hockey's grandest prize is given out, our country will be glued to the television, hoping that 32 pounds of silver resides in pro sports' most northerly city.
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