
BY THE NUMBERS: Oilers and Panthers prepare to face off in 2025 Stanley Cup final
The Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers meet again in the Stanley Cup final, a cross-continental showdown of the NHL's last teams left standing.
The Panthers are aiming to be back-to-back champions, while Oilers captain Connor McDavid is looking to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time in his dominant career. Game 1 is Wednesday night at Edmonton.
Here's a look at the series by the numbers:
11
This is the 11th rematch in the final in league history and the first since Pittsburgh and Detroit in 2009. Edmonton and the New York Islanders also had one in 1984. Each of those series saw the result flip from the previous year.
The other two rematches since the expansion era began in 1967 were Montreal sweeps of Boston in 1977 and '78 and St. Louis in '68 and '69.
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3
The Panthers are in the final for a third consecutive season, matching cross-state rival Tampa Bay's trio of trips from 2020-22. The Lightning won back to back on their first two runs, then lost their third to Colorado.
Since Paul Maurice was hired as coach and Florida acquired Matthew Tkachuk in a trade in the summer of 2022, the team has won 10 of 11 playoff series.
51
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McDavid and longtime running mate Leon Draisaitl lead all scorers in the playoffs with 26 and 25 points, respectively. This is their seventh playoff run together and the sixth year in a row.
Since their postseason debuts in 2017, McDavid has 143 points and Draisaitl 133, first and second of all players in that time. All that is missing is the Stanley Cup.
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2.11
Sergei Bobrovsky has again backstopped the Panthers to the final, going 12-5 with a 2.11 goals-against average and .912 save percentage through three rounds.
Counterpart Stuart Skinner lost his starting job after allowing 11 goals in Games 1 and 2 of the first round and only got it back in the second when Calvin Pickard was injured. Since returning to the net, Skinner is 6-2 with a 1.73 GAA and a .931 save percentage.
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4,092
The 4,092 kilometres between Sunrise, Fla., and Edmonton is — for the second year in a row — the longest distance between finalists in NHL history. It's a roughly six-hour flight each way for the teams, which will be especially challenging going back to western Canada for Game 5 without an extra travel day after Game 4.

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Edmonton Journal
8 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
Brad Marchand's Game 1 goal for Florida Panthers wins donairs for 1,500 fans in Halifax
Article content 'People were saying, 'I'm only going for Canada,' and 'I don't like him, he's a rat.' Not everyone, I guess, played by the rules and is expecting a donair.' The business expected some blowback, Nahas said. 'We expect that. A lot of people have their blinders on. It's black and white; it's Canada or U.S. And these are people who probably aren't from here or don't know the Brad connection of Halifax.' The brothers who own the business are 'tossing around' ideas for offers before the two teams meet again Friday night. 'It will be game time decision,' Nahas said. While he's 'not a betting man' Nahas said he's also cheering for Edmonton in the finals, but maybe not as loudly. 'It's Brad and Florida over Edmonton for sure,' Nahas said. Besides his scoring skill, Marchand is known for weird antics and relentless chirping aimed at getting inside the heads of opposing players, including licking them. Six years back, ESPN dubbed him 'the NHL's ultimate troll.' Even former U.S. president Barack Obama called Marchand the 'little ball of hate' when the Bruins visited the White House after winning the Stanley Cup in 2011. So, what could the prize for fans be in future online contests if the most suspended player in NHL history licks one of the Panthers during this series? 'That would have to be donairs for life, or something,' Nahas said with a chuckle. 'Or at least a year.'


Calgary Herald
8 minutes ago
- Calgary Herald
Brad Marchand's Game 1 goal for Florida Panthers wins donairs for 1,500 fans in Halifax
Halifax's 'little ball of hate' delivered free donairs to about 1,500 people Wednesday night. Article content Brad Marchand's goal for the Florida Panthers in the first game of the Stanley Cup finals had the folks at King of Donair rolling up their sleeves after the maker of the Halifamous late-night snack took to social media promising free donairs if people commented on their Facebook and Instagram posts about the celebrated playmaker and hometown hero before the puck dropped. Article content Article content Article content 'We know Brad likes donairs and, obviously, we're rooting for Canadian teams, too, but we want to see the cup back in Halifax,' said Nicholas Nahas, one of three brothers who co-own the fast-food business that has four outlets in Halifax. Article content Article content 'We're hockey fans and he's a Halifax homegrown boy.' Article content Marchand played for the Boston Bruins when they won the Stanley Cup in 2011. The left winger was traded to Florida this past March. Article content While Marchand scored on a power play at the 12:30 mark of Wednesday night's game, the Edmonton Oilers won Game 1 against Florida 4-3 in overtime. Article content 'Tough night last night,' Nahas said Thursday morning of Florida's loss as he was adding up the number of people who cashed in on the offer of a free donair, which normally retails for $9.89. Article content Article content The business made the offer 'on a whim,' he said. 'We knew what we were getting ourselves into.' Article content Article content He plans to send coupon codes to everyone who commented on the outfit's Marchand posts. 'All of our stores have the master list at the store level and when someone comes in with their code, they cross it off.' Article content The business has made donairs for Marchand before when he hosts private events. Article content 'Brad does have a free donairs for life card,' Nahas said. Article content Not everyone who saw the company's social media posts about Marchand was after a free donair, which for the uninitiated, is a pita filled with spicy ground Canadian beef, tomatoes, onions and slathered in a sweet sauce.


Global News
17 minutes ago
- Global News
Loblaw removes Folgers coffee from stores over ‘unjustified' price hikes
Shoppers at Loblaw Cos. Ltd.'s stores will soon no longer be able to get a coffee fix by purchasing Folgers-brand products after a pricing dispute prompted the grocer to pull them from its shelves. In an email sent to retailers on Wednesday, Loblaw said it decided to delist all Folgers products after talks with the coffee maker's manufacturer couldn't solve the impasse. 'After several weeks of negotiations, we were unable to reach an agreement with the manufacturers of Folgers coffee regarding their significant and unjustified proposed price increases,' said the email signed by Loblaw category director Suren Theivakadacham and obtained by The Canadian Press. 'We are doing this because we are on the side of customers, and doing what we can to keep prices low … This decision to delist Folgers coffee reflects our commitment to providing value for customers by not accepting unreasonable cost increases that would hurt Canadians.' Story continues below advertisement The email contained an attached list of alternative coffee products the grocer offers as stores prepare to update their shelves. The move comes as coffee prices continue to rise in Canada. Last month, Statistics Canada reported the price of coffee and tea was up 13.4 per cent in April on a year-over-year basis — outpacing both the 3.8 per cent increase in the cost of groceries that month, as well as Canada's overall inflation rate of 1.7 per cent. 4:22 Grocery prices set to rise Experts say higher coffee prices are in part due to recent extreme weather and changes in temperature, which have caused some producers to experience lower yields. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Other pressures include a weak Canadian dollar, making it more expensive to import coffee to Canada from other countries, along with the fact coffee is one of the products still subject to Canada's retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. Story continues below advertisement While the U.S. isn't a major producer of coffee, Canadian distributors often purchase it from American brokers. Folgers products are made by the Orrville, Ohio-based J.M. Smucker Co., which raised prices of its coffee offerings both last June and October in response to higher costs it is facing. President and CEO Mark Smucker told analysts on the company's quarterly earnings call in February that more coffee price increases were likely on the way. He said pricing decisions are dictated by costs it faces. 'Although we haven't laid out when other pricing is going to happen, we do expect it's going to happen in the next fiscal year, probably in the first half,' Smucker said at the time. The company did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Loblaw spokeswoman Catherine Thomas said Folgers' proposed cost increases were 'unreasonable and unjustified based on underlying costs' and that the grocer felt it was important to push back as many Canadians continue to struggle with unaffordability. 'Despite several attempts to address this with the manufacturer, we were not successful,' Thomas said in a statement. 'We will not accept or pass unjustified cost increases on to customers and therefore we have removed Folgers from our shelves … We recognize this may create some inconvenience for customers and for that we apologize but again, we will do what is right to help address price increases.' Story continues below advertisement Thomas added Loblaw expects most of its stores to be out of stock of Folgers products over the next week or two.