As the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers prepare to do battle for the Stanley Cup, let’s take a look back at the regular season series, which saw the Cats take both meetings by a one-goal margin.
Game 1: Panthers 6, Oilers 5 (December 16, 2024)
The Panthers scored three times in the third period to pull out an enthralling 6-5 win over Oilers at Rogers Place, ending a two-game losing streak that saw the defending champions unable to turn on the red light in Vancouver and Calgary.
Jesper Boqvist gave the Cats their first goal since Seattle when he stole the puck from Evan Bouchard at the Florida blue line and scored on a shorthanded breakaway 2:42 into the game.
The Oilers would reply with 4:47 left in the first when they took advantage of gobs of space in the offensive zone to tee up Zach Hyman for a shot from the edge of the right circle that he snapped past Sergei Bobrovsky. The assists on the goal went to Connor McDavid and Bouchard.
The Panthers would regain the lead at 19:32 with 12 ticks left to go on Darnell Nurse’s double-minor. After taking a cross from Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe found Matthew Tkachuk in front and he deflected the shot/pass in with his foot, much to the disgust of Oiler Nation.
Edmonton would blitz Bobrovsky and the Cats with three goals in a torrid 3:04 span of the second period to open up a 4-2 lead.
Hyman would score on a breakaway at the 6:02 mark, solving Bobrovsky with a rising backhand to even it up. McDavid sprung Hyman after bumping into Gustav Forsling and pushing the pack past Aaron Ekblad after taking an outlet pass from Leon Draisaitl. To say that was poorly handled by Florida’s top pairing would be a serious understatement.
Less than a minute later, Connor Brown notched his third goal in as many games thanks to a sweet one-timer set up by grizzled vet Corey Perry.
Another successful one-timer came 2:21 after Brown’s. This time it was Draisaitl pounding home a no-look return pass from McDavid from a sharp-angle in the lower right circle with A.J. Greer in the sin bin. Mattias Ekholm drew the secondary assist on Draisaitl’s league-leading 23rd goal.
Florida’s first pair would find redemption for their part in the Hyman breakaway when Forsling’s long snap shot was stopped by Stuart Skinner and then bounced in off the back of defenseman Ty Emberson with 2:05 to go in the middle frame. The assists on the goal went to Anton Lundell and Ekblad. Props to Reinhart for doing battle with Emberson in front.
Niko Mikkola buried Lundell’s backhand centering pass 6:53 into the third to tie the game after the young pivot and Eetu Luostarinen forced a Bouchard turnover near the boards while players from both clubs were busy battling near the benches
The Panthers took the lead thirty seconds later when Reinhart skated down the right side, took the puck away from Ekholm and then found a shard of space between Skinner’s melon and the post. Reinhart banked his shot off the side of the keeper’s mask from below the goal line to hit the 20-goal mark. Chévere!
Unfortunately, the Oilers would equalize quickly when Brett Kulak’s blocked shot bounced off the glass and back of the net before coming out to Kasperi Kapanen, who tucked the puck in at 8:02, setting the stage for more third period heroics from Verhaeghe.
Verhaeghe bagged the game-winner with 6:55 remaining in regulation after receiving a pass in the slot from Sam Bennett and firing off a shot that pierced Skinner blocker-side with Tkachuk screening. Mikkola got the second helper for holding the puck in and going down to Bennett.
Bobrovsky stopped the final three Edmonton shots to finish with 25 saves.
Game 2: Panthers 4, Oilers 3 (February 26, 2025)
Lundell was credited with a goal and two assists in the first meeting between the two teams in Sunrise since Florida captured the Stanley Cup on June 24, 2024.
The Cats opened the scoring at the 12:28 mark when Lundell won an offensive zone faceoff back to Uvis Balinskis. Balinksis moved in and fired a wrister from the top of the left circle that deflected off defenseman Kulak and eluded Skinner.
Kulak would get the goal back 2:13 later when he jumped into the play to take a centering pass from Vasily Podkolzin and beat a seemingly unprepared Bobrovsky from the left circle. The second assist on the goal went to recent acquisition John Klingberg.
Florida regained the lead 15:30 into the second when they refused to let the Oilers clear their zone. Shortly after going over the boards on a change, Ekblad held the puck in at the point before skating into the right circle. He put the biscuit into the slot, looking for Lundell’s blade. Lundell’s stick was lifted by Troy Stecher, so instead the puck caromed off his skate and soared by a helpless Skinner.
A couple of mistakes and a strong effort from Draisaitl allowed Edmonton to quickly even the score… again. The first boo boo occurred when Mackie Samoskevich whiffed on his attempt to knock the puck into the Edmonton zone. Klingberg took possession along the boards and head-manned to Draisaitl. Forsling made the second error when he was way too casual in defending the NHL’s leading goal-scorer. Draisaitl bulled by him and sent a shot over Bobrovsky’s glove, short-side exactly two minutes after Lundell’s goal.
The Panthers forged ahead for the third and final time with 9:52 remaining in regulation when Lundell found an incoming A.J. Greer, who dropped the puck to Nate Schmidt. The veteran defender snapped home a shot from just inside the left circle for his fifth of the season.
After having a goal waived off in the first period, Verhaeghe notched a huge insurance marker that turned out to be the game-winner 2:43 later. Following an Aleksander Barkov faceoff win, Ekblad cleared the zone to Reinhart, who sent Verhaeghe over the blue line alone. Verhaeghe’s initial shot was blocked by Ekholm, but he stayed with it and eventually slipped the puck past Skinner.
The Oilers would pull Skinner and halve the deficit at 16:35 when McDavid and Ekholm combined to set up Hyman for his 20th goal of the campaign.
Aided by a couple of late penalties on Ekholm and Perry, the Cats were able to close out another tight win over Edmonton.
So, there you have it. The Panthers and Oilers will begin their second straight duel for Lod Stanley’s mug Wednesday night in Edmonton.