After practically two months of Stanley Cup playoffs, we’re down to 2 groups left. The Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers start the ultimate sequence of the season Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+), with the final word prize in hockey on the road.
As a service to these followers who have not been following each shot, save and extra time thriller of the 2024 NHL postseason, right here is the lapsed fan’s information to the Stanley Cup Last — a fast primer on the convention champs, how they received right here and what to look out for within the sequence.
Wait a second … Florida Panthers vs. Edmonton Oilers? Wasn’t this the New York Rangers’ yr?
It positive appeared just like the Rangers have been a staff of future. It was the thirtieth anniversary of their final Stanley Cup win in 1994. They rolled by means of the primary two rounds of the playoffs with extra time heroics. Rempe-mania was working wild! As coach Peter Laviolette admitted, from the gamers to the remainder of the group, “We actually believed we have been going to win the Stanley Cup.”
Alas, the Rangers ran right into a Panthers staff within the Jap Convention finals that smothered them defensively and drained their potent energy play.
They ended up as the newest instance of the Presidents’ Trophy curse: Since 1985, solely eight groups that completed with the NHL’s finest regular-season report went on to win the Stanley Cup. For the reason that NHL went to the wild-card format in 2013, no Presidents’ Trophy-winning staff has even reached the Stanley Cup Last.
In accordance with maps, Edmonton, Alberta, and Dawn, Florida, appear very far aside.
Your geography is right. In accordance with the NHL, the Oilers and Panthers are 2,541 miles aside, the biggest distance between two groups in a Stanley Cup Last. The earlier report was set in the course of the 2011 Last between the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins at 2,500 miles aside.
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There’s going to be numerous time on the aircraft for each groups. Edmonton is a little more used to that than Florida at this level within the postseason.
Stated Edmonton’s Corey Perry of the flight to South Florida: “It was a ton of enjoyable. I watched my present, I fell asleep, received up, watched the exhibits and we landed. Had a couple of meals in between.”
The Panthers’ aircraft has a card desk that attracts some intense video games among the many gamers. The Oilers’ aircraft additionally has a card desk, however essentially the most intense video games are on the Nintendo Swap, particularly Mario Kart. Goalie Stuart Skinner revealed that he performs as Toad.
However the distance is not the one stark distinction between the 2 franchises. There’s additionally the rats and the steaks.
Rats and steaks?
Since 1995, it has been a practice at Panthers dwelling video games for followers to throw plastic rats on the ice in celebration. It stems from a legendary day when ahead Scott Mellanby used his keep on with exterminate a rat within the locker room earlier than the staff’s dwelling opener that yr after which used the identical stick to attain two objectives within the recreation — scoring what his teammates known as “a rat trick.” Florida would go on to play for the Stanley Cup that season, with followers tossing plastic rats on the ice, and the custom has endured.
In Edmonton, the meat is again. Through the Oilers’ 2006 run to the Stanley Cup Last, a neighborhood DJ inspired followers to throw slabs of meat on the ice as a response to the Detroit Pink Wings’ custom of hurling octopi on the ice. The Oilers upset the Pink Wings within the first spherical, and the meat tossing continued. Some steaks have been seen on the ice in Edmonton throughout this run to the Last, persevering with a juicy custom.
What is the big-picture view of Panthers vs. Oilers?
The Panthers try to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise historical past. The Oilers have not received one because the finish of their dynasty in 1990.
The Panthers are the deeper staff on paper, particularly on protection and in purpose. However they do not have Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, two generational skills in search of their first championship after a number of years of irritating ends in the playoffs.
It is South Florida, which is lastly beginning to growth as a hockey market after three a long time, vs. Canada, because the Oilers try and develop into the primary Canadian staff to win the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Is Canada rallying across the Oilers to interrupt the drought?
To place the Cup drought into perspective: Canada has seen an NBA champion (Toronto Raptors, 2019) and a World Sequence champion (Toronto Blue Jays, 1993) because the nation final had a Stanley Cup champion.
The Canucks (twice), Oilers, Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators all had their pictures at breaking the drought and fell quick. What we discovered from all of these earlier makes an attempt: Canadians rooting for a staff to win the Cup simply because it is from Canada is a fantasy. It is an invention. It is usually talked about however by no means occurs.
Consider it logically: Would a fan of the Flames, the Oilers’ in-province rival, ever need to see Edmonton win something, particularly in opposition to a staff with ex-Flames star Matthew Tkachuk? Would a Canucks fan whose staff misplaced in seven video games to those Oilers all of the sudden cheer for them? Does anybody in Toronto need something good to occur for another Canadian staff when the Leafs have not received since 1967?
After all not. It is foolish. There’s just one staff Canada rallies round to root for, and it is the one which competes for gold medals, not the Stanley Cup.
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The Panthers was horrible. How did they develop into annual Stanley Cup finalists?
Here is a wild truth: Coach Paul Maurice, the quippy bench boss who additionally coached the Panthers to the Last for the second time of their historical past final season, is chargeable for half (25) of the franchise’s playoff wins (50). Florida was recognized for not making the playoffs, at one level qualifying solely twice in an 18-year span. The Panthers have now made the playoffs in 4 straight seasons.
A lot of the credit score goes to GM Invoice Zito, who arrived in 2020 and added gamers resembling Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe to the roster. He additionally employed Maurice, who has guided Florida again to the Last after shedding to Vegas in 5 video games final June.
The Panthers are simply the sixth staff since 1968 to play for the Stanley Cup the season after shedding within the Last. The final two that did — the 2009 Penguins and the 1984 Oilers — received all of it on their second attempt. If there’s one huge narrative for the Panthers, it is the unfinished enterprise in making an attempt to win the Stanley Cup for the primary time.
What’s totally different about this model of the Panthers within the Last?
They’re more healthy, for positive. Among the many accidents Florida had in opposition to the Golden Knights: Defenseman Aaron Ekblad had a damaged foot and two separated shoulders, and Tkachuk broke his sternum earlier than Recreation 3. However the Panthers are additionally a special staff defensively. They have been twenty first in objectives in opposition to per recreation in 2022-23 (3.32) however rose to first within the NHL (2.41) this season.
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They used that protection — and the clutch goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky — to defeat the rival Tampa Bay Lightning in 5 video games; oust the Bruins in six video games, in a rematch of the Panthers’ surprising first-round upset of the B’s final season; after which remove the Rangers in six video games.
Bobrovsky is in search of his first Stanley Cup in a profession that has seen him win the Vezina Trophy twice because the league’s prime goalie and remove the regular-season’s finest staff thrice within the playoffs. Final season, he carried the Panthers and confronted a bunch of pictures; this season, the protection has been higher and a extra rested Bobrovsky has been a stable final line of protection for Florida.
However this season, the important thing defensive matchup needs to be Aleksander Barkov, who received the Selke Trophy because the league’s prime defensive ahead, taking up McDavid.
Weren’t the Oilers principally cooked early within the season?
It actually appeared that means. Edmonton was 3-9-1 when the Oilers fired coach Jay Woodcroft and changed him with Kris Knoblauch, who was teaching the Rangers’ AHL affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut. (Knoblauch was additionally McDavid’s junior hockey coach, and the Oilers star has denied having any affect on the teaching change.) The Oilers added Hockey Corridor of Famer Paul Coffey to Knoblauch’s bench to assist coach the protection.
Edmonton then turned its season round, going 46-18-5 beneath Knoblauch to complete second within the Pacific Division. The Oilers eradicated the Los Angeles Kings for the third straight first spherical (4-1) after which outlasted the Canucks in a seven-game second-round sequence which may have been a defining second for them as contenders — and for his or her first-year coach.
How did the Vancouver sequence change the Oilers?
If there was a weak hyperlink for Edmonton getting into the playoffs, it was goaltending. Stuart Skinner was squarely in “simply do not lose us a sequence” territory.
For the primary eight video games of the playoffs, regardless of successful 5 of them, he was a legal responsibility: a save proportion of .877 in again of an inconsistent protection. So Knoblauch benched him for Video games 4 and 5 in opposition to Vancouver in favor of journeyman Calvin Pickard, to present Skinner a reset and to present a wake-up name to the Oilers.
Skinner’s subsequent eight video games: six wins and a .919 save proportion, with Edmonton out-defending an excellent Dallas Stars staff in its six-game Western Convention finals win. Lastly, there seemed to be a staff enjoying championship-level hockey surrounding McDavid.
What’s so particular about McDavid, anyway?
Generally it is higher to indicate than inform:
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Connor McDavid’s power-play purpose opens the scoring in Recreation 6
Connor McDavid makes an excellent transfer and backhands the puck into the web to present the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
That is McDavid in opposition to the Stars in Recreation 6 of the convention finals, posterizing two defenders earlier than beating goalie Jake Oettinger. It was lower than 5 minutes into the most important recreation of McDavid’s profession, with a visit to the Cup Last on the road. For anybody else, this can be a career-defining spotlight. For McDavid, it is merely often known as “Connor doing Connor issues.”
McDavid leads all playoff scorers with 31 factors in 18 playoff video games. That features 26 assists, placing him 5 helpers away from Wayne Gretzky’s NHL report for many assists in a single postseason (31 assists in 1988). McDavid has scored in 14 video games, with 9 multipoint video games.
He has collected numerous {hardware} throughout his nine-year NHL profession — 5 scoring titles, three MVP awards — however that is his first probability to play for the Stanley Cup. And he may lastly have the precise staff round him to win it.
What do the Oilers have past McDavid?
Leon Draisaitl is each bit the generational expertise and franchise pillar McDavid is. He has 28 factors in 18 video games, together with 10 objectives. There have been instances when it was Draisaitl who stepped up in each ends of the rink to steer the Oilers to victory in the course of the playoffs. As magical as McDavid is, the Oilers aren’t right here with out Draisaitl.
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Neither of the 2 has the purpose complete of Zach Hyman, though McDavid and Draisaitl have actually contributed to it. Hyman leads the playoffs with 14 objectives, after scoring 54 objectives within the common season. That places him in vary to threaten the NHL report of 19 objectives in a single postseason, at the moment shared by Reggie Leach and Jari Kurri, the latter of whom set it as an Oiler. Talking of vary, 10 of Hyman’s objectives have come from proper in entrance of the web.
If there’s one participant who leveled as much as star standing within the playoffs, it is Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard. He is third within the playoffs in scoring (27 factors) whereas skating 24:33 per recreation alongside defensive associate Mattias Ekholm.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has 20 factors in 18 video games, and he’s notable for being the longest-serving present Oiler — 881 video games, spanning 9 head coaches, a couple of basic managers and loads of dashed hopes.
All of those gamers share one thing in frequent: They assist run one of the crucial dominant power-play items in NHL historical past.
How good is the Edmonton energy play?
The Oilers convert on over 37% of their energy performs, simply the very best within the NHL. McDavid acts like some extent guard, distributing pucks. Draisaitl, who’s tied with McDavid with 14 power-play factors, is nice on one-timers. Bouchard has a booming shot from the purpose, and Hyman cleans up pucks in entrance. Knoblauch calls Nugent-Hopkins “the facilitator,” which makes this sound like a heist crew.
Whereas the very best recommendation in slowing the Oilers’ energy play is to simply not permit them to have one, the Panthers are the second-best penalty-killing staff within the playoffs (88.2%), coming off a sequence wherein they thwarted 14 of 15 energy performs for the Rangers, who have been additionally one of many NHL’s finest groups with the person benefit.
By the way, the very best penalty-killing staff within the playoffs? The Oilers, at 93.9%.
What’s the important thing to victory for each groups?
For the Panthers, it is to remove the time and area for McDavid and Draisaitl to function, whereas not permitting them possibilities to attain on the ability play. It is a recipe that labored in opposition to the Rangers within the convention finals, to the purpose that New York’s finest offensive gamers mentioned they have been enjoying extra conservatively out of concern of creating a mistake in opposition to Florida. Then, if that fails, counting on Bobrovsky to be the final line of protection.
For the Oilers, it is simply the other: In the event that they’re on the street to victory, McDavid and Draisaitl are driving the bus. Sure, they’re going to want Skinner to remain sturdy and would require contributions from different gamers, however on the finish of the day, the Stanley Cup might be received or misplaced on the efficiency of their two stars.
Whether or not it is the Panthers as a franchise or McDavid and Draisaitl as generational stars, somebody’s incomes their first sip from the Stanley Cup this month. And that makes for a really thrilling sequence.
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Trivia: Suppose you realize the Stanley Cup?
Earlier than the Panthers’ matchup vs. the Oilers for the Stanley Cup, take a look at your information with some trivia.