‘Here we are again:' Panthers, Oilers set to begin rare Stanley Cup Final rematch

Miami Herald

2 days ago

The moment is here.
The final series.
The rematch.
The chance for a repeat.
The Florida Panthers' opportunity to defend their Stanley Cup championship has reached its final stage. They are back in the Stanley Cup Final, just four victories away from repeating as the top team in the National Hockey League, something only two other teams have done this century.
And they'll do it against a familiar foe in the Edmonton Oilers, the same team they knocked out in a wild seven-game series last year to claim their first-ever title.
'If you would have asked both of us in the middle of the summer if we have a chance to play for the Stanley Cup again, a rematch, we would both race to sign that paper,' star Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk said.
No need to race now. It's here. Game 1 of the best-of-7 series is at 8 p.m. Wednesday from Edmonton's Rogers Place, with the game broadcast on TNT and truTV and streaming on Max.
It's just the fifth time in NHL history since the league expanded beyond six teams in 1967 that two teams will face off in the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive years and the first since the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings faced off in the 2008 and 2009 Cup Finals.
'It's definitely going to be a good series,' Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said. 'They're going to be ready. We're going to be ready. And it's crazy; I don't think it happens very often where you get back-to-back Stanley Cup Final matchups. So, it's going to be a tough series. We know what to expect. Just a lot of excitement going into it.'
The excitement for Florida is a chance to repeat and keep this stellar run of success going. It's Florida's third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
The excitement for Edmonton is to end a drought without winning a Stanley Cup that extends to 1990.
It's a battle of stars — Tkachuk, captain Aleksander Barkov, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and newly acquired Brad Marchand leading the way for Florida; the one-two punch of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl paving the way for Edmonton — at the highest level.
Right where both teams feel like they deserve to be.
After Florida won the Cup last year, outlasting Edmonton with a 2-1 win in Game 7 after nearly blowing a 3-0 series lead, Tkachuk was caught in the post-series handshake line telling multiple Oilers players 'We'll see you in the Finals next year.'
'I believed that it was going to be us two again,' Tkachuk said Sunday, reflecting on those exchanges. 'I think we're the two best teams in the league. And if everything would go right, it would probably be us two again in the Finals. I have that confidence in our team and they were the best team that we played last year in the playoffs. I stand by that. I believed it at the time. And here we are again.'
It's the same, but different
While the matchup is between the same teams and the cores of these teams remain mostly intact from last year, there are still a share of differences to account for heading into this series.
Both teams have more depth this year than a year ago. Both teams have improved on their so-called weaknesses — Edmonton shoring up its play on defense, Florida finding a new level on offense.
So there's a balancing act to be had for the Panthers. They're going to lean on their experience from last year to remember what it takes to win at the highest stage against this Oilers team. But they also know there are tweaks that will need to be made to replicate that success.
'They've evolved and we've evolved,' forward Evan Rodrigues said. 'You prep for them like you do any other series. They're a hell of a team and here for a reason, and we're going to need to be mentally and physically prepared.'
Road warriors
Florida will also need to continue its strong run of performing on the road if it wants to prevail.
For the fourth time this postseason, the Panthers are starting a playoff series away from home. That hasn't been a deterrent to the Panthers, though. Of their 12 wins, eight have been away from Amerant Bank Arena — 3-0 at Tampa Bay, 2-2 at Toronto and 3-0 at Carolina. The NHL record for most road wins in a postseason is 10, done six times.
They are averaging a staggering 4.8 goals per game, while allowing just 2.1 goals per game, on the road.
'Us against the world,' defenseman Gustav Forsling. 'It's that kind of feeling.'
Florida knows to expect a raucous environment in Edmonton when the puck drops Wednesday. They saw it first hand last season in the three games they played at Rogers Place — a 4-3 win in Game 3, 8-1 loss in Game 4 and 5-1 loss in Game 6.
'Going in there, it was one of the loudest buildings I've ever played in,' Verhaeghe said. 'It gets really loud in there when they're buzzing around in their own arena. It's a really cool environment to play in. We're just really excited. Last year gives us some experience.'
The end of the road
This final stretch, these final four to seven games, will mark the end of another long season of hockey for the Panthers. By the time the Stanley Cup Final ends, the Panthers will have played anywhere from 312-315 games over the past three seasons, breaking the record of 309 games over a three-season span, originally set by Dallas (1997-98 through 1999-2000 seasons) and matched by Detroit (2006-07 through 2008-09 seasons).
But that grind had led to this finale, and the intensity should be there from the moment the puck drops on Wednesday.
'We will have more energy for this series than any of the three prior,' Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. 'And I'm sure it's true of Edmonton as well. But the regular season was more of a grind for us this year than either of the two previous. And then in each round, it seemed a bigger build to excitement just because the light is at the end of the tunnel. There are no more than seven games left to this season, no matter what. So, you will see a new energy source from both teams in this series.'