Oilers, Panthers set for 12th Stanley Cup final rematch in NHL history

National Post

a day ago

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Mathematical odds and hockey's gods would suggest that consecutive, identical matchups for the Stanley Cup are rare and wondrous happenstance.
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Given that one of 16 teams emerges from each National Hockey League conference to contest the final every year, the chances of a consecutive, repeat matchup currently are one in 4,096.
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It had happened just 11 times since 1927 — and not at all since Detroit and Pittsburgh went back-to-back in 2008 and '09 — before the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers made it an even dozen and will face off again, with the Panthers looking to defend their Cup title from 2024.
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Montreal has appeared in the most back-to-back Cup match-ups with six, followed by Detroit (five), Toronto (four) and Boston (two). St. Louis, the New York Rangers, the Islanders, Oilers and Penguins each appeared in one.
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Just four of the 11 back-to-backs were split by the two teams, while Montreal swept four of its six repeat finals, Toronto swept two and Detroit one.
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Here then is a look back at some of hockey's most unlikely Stanley Cup finals in history.
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This was the OG, the first consecutive, repeat matchup for Lord Stanley's Cup in modern NHL history. The Leafs took the title in 1932, before the Rangers won the 1933 Final by a count of three games to one. Bill Cook, the Rangers captain and first player signed by the New York franchise, scored the Cup-clinching goal at 7:33 of overtime, with Leafs Bill Thoms and Alex Levinsky in the penalty box at Maple Leaf Gardens. It was the first power-play OT goal scored in NHL playoff history. In a delightful interview conducted in the Rangers dressing room between the second and third periods, Cook was asked by radio and TV play-by-play man extraordinaire Foster Hewitt to offer goal-scoring advice for youngsters.
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Cook, who won the 1932-33 scoring title with 50 points in 48 games, said: 'Put the puck where the goaltender isn't.'
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He did exactly that in OT, taking a centring pass from Butch Keeling and beating Toronto netminder Lorne Chabot low on the stick side to give the Rangers their second Stanley Cup title.
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At various points in NHL history, the Canadiens made it a rite of spring to appear in the Cup final and, for an unprecedented three straight years in the 1950s, their dance partners were the Red Wings. In 1954 and '55, the Wings' dynastic teams came out on top, powered by the likes of Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Norm Ullman, Alex Delvecchio and goalie Glenn Hall.