Game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final will be played between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, June 8th.
Both teams defeated their previous opponents in a six-game conference finals match and advanced to the final round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with Edmonton defeating the Dallas Stars and Florida defeating the New York Rangers.
The Florida Panthers enter the finals as the betting favorites. DraftKings.
Edmonton is 1990 There they defeated the Boston Bruins in five games.
The Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006 but lost in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Edmonton currently has five players recording at least one point (goal or assist) per game, but the real stars are Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
McDavid led all players in total assists and points in the postseason, while Draiseitel was in the top three in goals, points and assists.
As of now, Edmonton has the best power play and penalty killing percentage in the upcoming playoffs.
Meanwhile, Florida enters the final as runners-up after losing in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights in last year’s Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers have yet to win a Stanley Cup, having reached the finals only once in 1996 when they were soundly defeated by the Colorado Avalanche.
Although the 2022 Panthers had a good regular season, some would argue that this is the best team in franchise history and this year is their best chance to win the Stanley Cup.
The goaltender is two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky, who has been one of the most consistent and powerful playoff goaltenders over the past two postseasons.
The team’s leading scorer in the playoffs so far is Matthew Tkachuk, who was acquired from the Calgary Flames in the 2022 offseason.
Team captain and current two-time Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov is averaging a point per game (and doing a pretty good job) while guarding some of the league’s best players in these playoffs.
X-Factor
The Oilers’ biggest X-factor, by far, is goaltending.
Oilers starting goaltender Stuart Skinner has been extremely erratic at best and near unplayable at times during these playoffs.
Skinner currently boasts an 89.7% save percentage and was named reserve Calvin Pickard in Game 3 of the second round against the Vancouver Canucks.
For comparison, the league average for save percentage has been around 91.0% over the past 20 years.
Skinner has recorded a save percentage below 85% in five playoff games so far this season.
Skinner’s performance was inconsistent for the Oilers, but in their Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Stars he recorded a 92.2% save percentage and held Dallas to two or fewer goals in Games 4, 5, and 6 to lead the Oilers to three straight wins and a berth in the final round.
The series against the Stars proved Skinner can perform well when it matters most, but it’s hard to shake the impression that the series against Dallas may have been an exception.
For the Florida Panthers, the X-factor is center Sam Reinhart.
Reinhart scored 57 goals during the regular season, 27 of which came on the power play.
Reinhart now has eight goals in 17 playoff games, with four of those goals coming on the power play.
If the Panthers want to beat the best penalty killing units in the upcoming playoffs, Reinhart will need to continue scoring on his special teams, which is his forte.
prediction
Despite the question marks surrounding Edmonton’s goaltending situation, they managed to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Looking at the way the Oilers skaters have played, some might argue they would have made it this far no matter who was the goaltender.
In many ways, these playoffs feel like they were destined to end with Connor McDavid winning his first Stanley Cup.
I predict the Oilers will beat the Panthers in six games and McDavid will win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
The Panthers are expected to win the series. DraftKings.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final will air on ABC on Saturday, June 8th at 8pm ET.
Michael Neenan is a reporter. [email protected].
