edmonton-oilers

The Stanley Cup has arrived as we are down to two teams in the finals. It’s a rematch of last year’s epic 7 game series that went the distance with the Florida Panthers versus the Edmonton Oilers.

We hope the sequel of the Panthers/Oilers is not Weekend at Bernie’s Two and more like Star Wars’ Empire Strikes Back if you want to dub Edmonton as the bad guys. This is the 12th time in NHL history we have the same two teams battling it out in two straight seasons in the Stanley Cup finals. It’s the first time since 2009 when Detroit and Pittsburgh squared off for the second time in two seasons. The Oilers could be trying to repeat their own history as they were beaten by the New York Islanders in 1983 in the first year of back to back finals. In 1984, Edmonton would prevail over the Islanders. Now Edmonton is looking to do the same thing with the Panthers after falling to Florida last year. Florida has other plans as they want to be the 3rd team this century to repeat in back to back finals. The Penguins did it in 2016 & ’17 while the Lightning did the same thing in 2020 & ’21. Edmonton and I imagine most of Canada would love to see their country’s drought end. The last time a Canadian team in the NHL won the Stanley Cup, you have to go back to 1992 when Montreal won it all.

Our playoff predictions throughout the playoffs prediction for each series winners, record stands at 9-5. We went 6-2 first round. Second round went even at 2-2. Conference championships we have a 1-1 record. We have suffered three series losses picking against the Oilers. Will that change in the finals? Should we go Oilers and jump on their band wagon? We have not done well at picking the right games each series winner has clinched it by. These are some things you should know if you are using this article as a reference to make a wager on the outcome of the NHL finals.

2025 STANLEY CUP FINALS

EDMONTON OILERS VERSUS FLORIDA PANTHERS

Season series: (0-2) favoring Panthers, Playoff History: (1-0) 1 series favoring Panthers

How these teams arrived here: Panthers eliminated: Lightning, Maple Leafs & Hurricanes

Oilers eliminated: Kings, Golden Knights & Stars

History Cups won: Oilers (5-1) Panthers

Oilers Cups, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990.

Panthers Cup, 2024,

Last year the Panthers cruised to a 3 games to nothing lead on the Oilers. Then the Oilers came back and won three straight to bring the series to a game 7. Finally the Panthers put away the Oilers avoiding a historical collapse you want nothing to do with. How do the Oilers overcome the Panthers besides not digging a hole for themselves early on in the series? The Panthers are not the hunters any longer as they are being hunted which sometimes is harder to defend and prevail in these circumstances. Let’s dive into some intriguing numbers first. The number 2.

Corey Perry will be playing in his 5th Stanley Cup finals in his last six seasons. It will be his 6th Stanley Cup final of his career. The first 1 he won back in 2007 with the Ducks. Perry has been on the losing end of the last 4 Cup tries. In 2020 with the Stars, 2021 Canadiens, 2022 Lightning and last year with the same Oilers. At 40 years of age, will he get that 2nd cup?

In 17 games of post-season, Brad Marchand wearing a Panthers jersey has 4 goals while dishing out ten assists. The Panthers added Marchand through a trade with the Boston Bruins. Marchand is seeking his second Stanley Cup championship just like Corey Perry. Marchand won his only win with Boston in 2011. The last two finals Marchand has been in both with the Bruins, he was on the losing side in 2013 & 19. Could the veteran get his name on the Cup twice?

DEADLY LINES

The Brad Marchand line has been very productive on the road as it’s been averaging 3 points per contest. This line has produced 32 points with 10 goals and 22 assists for the Panthers so far this post-season. Besides Marchand, the Panthers have Anton Lundell on this line and he has 5 goals with 7 assists in the post season so far. Then Eetu Luostarinen has 4 goals and dished out 9 assists. It’s nice to have something working to your own advantage on the road which these teams will need to steal a game to win this thing.

The Oilers in the 1980’s had two super power players – Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. Can Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl be those guys to get it done for the Oilers like those past Edmonton heroes did?

Both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have done the heavy lifting this post-season. Draisaitl has 7 goals with 18 assists which totals out to 25 points. McDavid has 6 goals and has dished out 20 assists which is good for 26 points.

GOALIES

Which goalie will be red hot in this Stanley Cup final? We know a goalie could single handedly be the X-factor of any series in hockey and carry his team to the promised land. The Panthers have the better goalie with Sergei Bobrovsky. The Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner has shown he can be a brick wall in the net for them.

Since Bobrovsky took over the net for the Panthers in post-season play since April 23, 2023, he has 40 wins behind net and six shut outs. He has 2.40 goals against average and .911 save %. This post-season he has a record of 12-5 with 3 shut outs. He only has 2.11 goals against average and a higher save percentage at .912.

Now Stuart Skinner buckled down after Edmonton lost their first game versus the Stars. He won 4 straight games to help Edmonton get to this point. He only allowed 5 goals out of 105 shots from game 2 through 5 out of the conference championship series. Skinner rebounds quickly from a bad game which you want that from your goalie, a short memory. He allowed 4 goals in game three of the series when the Oilers faced the Golden Knights in round two. He rebounded with two straight shut outs versus a Vegas team that has a solid offense.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I think the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers are definitely the two best teams in the NHL. You can say that I’m like Captain Obvious on that statement as they are the only two teams left standing. I thought about the Oilers how I thought they did not have the goal tending. They did not have depth in their roster. I thought how the Oilers rely too much on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. These are all true statements when you talk about the heavy burden and if they get others to help. Can Skinner remain hot in the net?

The Panthers have so much depth on this roster as I have not even mentioned some of their bigger names. Like Matthew Tkachuk whose presence is a force out on the ice. He has 38 hits and chipped in 5 goals so far this post-season. Then the Panthers number 1 star Aleksandor Barkov who has 6 goals with 11 assists, blocked 16 shots, and has dished out plenty of hits. What about two Panthers that may be on their last ride with the team? They are star defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennent who has multiple goals this post-season. These two guys will be free agents at the end of this series. I think Florida has too much more than Edmonton. The Oilers will make this a must watch series as it should go 7 games. I think the Panthers goal tending puts the Oilers super stars on ice at the end.

OUR PREDICTION: FLORIDA PANTHERS REPEAT AS YOUR STANLEY CUP WINNER IN 7 GAMES

This Russian attack is not the Soviet Army invading our country like in one of the greatest under the radar movies in Red Dawn, which has a cult following. This is not the insensitive invasion of Ukraine by the dick head Vladimir Putin.

This Russian attack is a lone wolf named Alex Ovechkin, invading the Great One’s all time goals list in the NHL. The Great One being Wayne Gretzky. Ovechkin, nicknamed the Russian machine, needs only 37 goals to tie a NHL record that in our lifetime we never thought we would see get broken.

In 1994 Wayne Gretzky was skating with the LA Kings when he scored his 802nd goal to pass up another legend hockey player. That player was Gordie Howe who had 801 goals in the NHL.

Gordie skated 25 years for the Detroit Red Wings & then went on to the WHA (World Hockey Association) to play a few more years. The WHA would fold up shop and eventually merge with the NHL back in 1979.

Howe would end up playing one more season in the NHL as a Hartford Whaler. On October 15th of 1989, Gretzky was only 28 years old and passed up Howe’s 1,850 points in his first year with the Kings against his old team, the Edmonton Oilers. The great one even added the overtime goal in that game to give the Kings a 5-4 win over the Oilers that historical night. The great one scored 894 goals in his career playing in 1,487 games in a 20 year NHL career and retired at the age of 38. Even if Alex Ovechkin breaks his record, I think many will say Wayne is still the best hockey player of all-time in the NHL.

This is the 20th season for Alex Ovechkin who was drafted by the Washington Capitals number one overall back in the 2004 NHL draft. Ovechkin is 39 years old and has played his entire career in Washington. Ovechkin helped the Capitals win their first ever Stanley Cup back in the 2017-18 season. Ovechkin has played in 1,434 games in his NHL career and has 857 goals. In 8 games this season Ovechkin has 4 goals. Last season Ovechkin had 31 goals, his lowest amount since the 2012-13 season playing a full schedule. During the Covid season Ovechkin had 24 goals in the 2020-21 season. In the 2022-23 season, Ovechkins had another 40 or more goals as he lit the lantern 42 times. He has scored at least 41 goals in 13-19 seasons coming into his 20th year in the NHL.

How would you feel about a Russian breaking the Great One’s record for most goals all-time? Alex Ovechkin has ties to the dictator Vladimir Putin which is never a good thing if he’s seeking endorsement deals. You have to respect the work he puts in on his craft to be a top scorer in the NHL for 20 seasons. If Russia does not invade Ukraine and are still at war with their neighbor country, I’m not really writing this part of the article. Former goalie and Hall of Famer Dominik Hasik compares Putin to Adolf Hitler. He would like to see the NHL do something about the Russians in the league. How Ukraine should get some compensation to help their country which could be paid out players from the Mother Country. Hasek wants the NHL to fork over the money as they have allowed Russian players in the league since the war started in 2022. The Russians that play in the NHL give their own country and world advertisement that nothing is wrong in the world. The Russians have been banned in the Olympics. Putin’s country still has his own people in sports across the world like tennis. Do you fault players who most likely want to play the game then fight in a war? How these players make money in the states and Canada and help their own back in the old country. You know some of that money is then taken by the Russian government to buy more bullets or tanks to kill innocent people and children always become victims.

Some of these Russian players have been some of the best players in the NHL over the decades. If Ovechkin breaks Gretzky’s record, it’s like Barry Bonds being the home run king cheating and passing Hank Aaron, a guy who did everything right. I don’t think of Ovechkin as a guy that cheated the game. If he gets the record this season or if it drags into next, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth because he is a guy that had his picture with Putin. He is a guy that never said anything bad about his buddy dictator when reporters brought it up to him after his country invaded. Playing the old Nintendo game called Rush’n Attack which was spelled differently so no feelings were hurt during the sales in the late 1980’s during the Cold War. That is how the relationship seems to be strained as we look at it like the video game or Red Dawn the movie. We have to always look at most people in every country and believe they do not want to be involved in a war. They want to make a living they love with a significant other and have kids while being happy. How ironic that if Ovechkin does pass the great one, he is wearing a Capitals sweater and plays in the nation’s capital. Maybe Donald Trump will have his ICE guys take care of him on the ice. Trump may also be in a selfie with Ovechkin and text it to his old buddy Putin in Russia. Right now it just does not feel right for anyone to be close to the Great One’s record.

The Wild shamrock

NHL 2025 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS: FINALS PREDICTIONS

RUSSIAN ATTACK