Oilers-Panthers Series Preview.

 3P Edmonton vs Florida 3A

We are back with another Playoff preview here on the ETEH Blog, so today we are looking at the Stanley Cup Final, as we're going to be looking at the best team in the West this year in the Edmonton Oilers as they finished 3rd in the Pacific this year, they took down the 2nd ranked pacific team in LA in 6 games winning 4 straight in RD1, then took down the best in the Pacific this year in Vegas in 5 games in RD2 and then they won 4 straight again after losing game 1 and beat the Dallas Stars in a WCF rematch from last year in 5 games in the WCF as they reach the Stanley Cup final for the 2nd consecutive year and 3rd time on the 2000’s, and they take on the 3rd team in the Atlantic in the Florida Pantherswho steamrolled by 2nd in the Atlantic in Tampa in RD1 in 5 games, then followed that up with taking down the Atlantic winning Maples Leafs win four of the last 5 games and beat them in 7 games in RD2 and then they were able to get out to a 3 game lead and took down the Canes in the ECF for the 2nd time in 3 seasons and beat them in 5 games in the ECF as they are the team to once again come out of the East and make the Stanley Cup Final for the 3rd consecutive season and kept the Prince of Wales Trophy in Florida.

History of Rivalry Between teams in playoffs:

Now once you get to the Stanley Cup Final you usually don’t have too much history of the Cup Finalists playing against each other in the post season on account of them being in separate conferences, but this is one of the rare occasions that we actually have history to go on between the Cup Finalists as the Panthers and Oilers have met in the Playoffs once before and it was all the way back in last years Stanley Cup Final, as last year the Panthers shutdown Edmonton and took a 3-0 series lead before the Oilers stormed back with 3 straight victories to tie the series up and force a game 7 where Reinhart’s second period go ahead goal lead to the Panthers winning the game, the series and the Cup for the first time in franchise history, now they meet again in a Stanley Cup Final rematch, so this time will McDavid and the Oilers even it up, or will Florida remain undefeated in the postseason against the Oilers.

Season Series Record: 

Edmonton 0-2-0 8-10-2 

Florida 2-0-0 10-8+2 

Sam Navarro Imagn Images

Each teams X-Factors: Marchand vs Ekholm

Next we go over to the two teams X-Factors in my opinion for this series and the two X-Factors in my eyes are the Panthers in-season acquisition in Brad Marchand and the Oilers top 4 defensive defensemen Mattias Ekholm, now for the Oilers I feel while they do have McDavid and Draisaitl the X-Factor for this series for the Oilers is top 4 defensive defensemen Mattias Ekholm, now Ekholm had been injured for the entirety of the postseason and the last few games of the regular season due to a leg injury but was able to get back into game action in game 5 of the WCF as he was finally healthy enough, now even though the Oilers have been pretty good defensively in the postseason getting back Ekholm is a massive boost and I think would drastically improve the D-Corp and if he is healthy and back to being the old Ekholm I think that may tip the scale in Edmonton’s favour, meanwhile for Florida their X-Factor in my eyes has to be Brad Marchand, the inseason acquisition has been everything and more for the Panthers as he was a big reason as to why the Panthers are here again and has helped made a formidable 3rd line with Luostarinen and Lundell and will need to continue to be his effective self if the Panthers want any chance to beat the Oilers so those are my X-Factors for this series. 

Which teams are best at 3 Positions:

Perry Nelson Imagn Images

Offense: now on the offensive side between the Panthers and Oilers, these two teams both have pretty dang good offenses that can explode for offense in just a moment, so it will be pretty hard to decide who has the upper hand in the SCF, now I think top end talent wise you have to give the upper hand to the Oilers as even though Florida has guys like Barkov, Verhaeghe and Tkachuk, they don’t have anyone better then Draisaitl and McDavid, while I would even give the depth advantage right now to the Edmonton Oilers as there Seth has picked up in the postseason and I could definitely see them having a bit deeper of a forward group right now then the Panthers so in my opinion the offensive edge goes to Edmonton. 

Defence: now on the defensive side of the puck the two teams both have a pretty solid blueline as after missing time in the first two rounds the Panthers now have Ekblad back and after missing him in the first 3 rounds Edmonton has got Ekholm back, so I think these two teams have similar bluelines but I will have to give the edge on the blueline to the Florida Panthers, because even though they got Ekholm back I am still not solid on the defensive capabilities of Walman and Klingberg and the Panthers defence has such a solid unit that Mikkola and Schmidt are both playing like top 4 defensemen, so while I do think it is pretty close and hard to pick between, I am giving the Panthers the edge defensively.

Goaltending: and lastly in Net you have the Oilers once again rocking with Stuart Skinner and Florida sporting Sergei Bobrovsky, now Bobrovsky has had his game this postseason that were on the rather bad side of the puck, but for the most part he has been a solid goalie for the Panthers, meanwhile Skinner had a atrocious start to the playoffs losing his first 3 games but since then besides one 3rd period vs the Stars he has been money for the Edmonton Oilers and is looking like the guy that went on a tear toward the Cup Final last season, but between these two goalies I am still giving the Panthers and Bobrovsky the edge as I do feel that Bobrovsky is more tested and consistent then Skinner and I still think he is the better goalie so advantage to the Panthers in Net. 

Biggest on Ice Matchup: Panthers PP vs Oilers PK 

Now when it comes to the biggest on ice matchup between the Panthers and Oilers in my opinion, the biggest matchup has to be between the Panthers power play and Oilers Pk, now last year this was one of the many reasons the Oilers pushed the series to 7, as their PK was stellar only allowing 4 PPG all playoff long and only giving up 1 or 2 in the Cup Final and that PK took a element of the Panthers away, but this year the PK has been amongst the worst in the postseason as all three of Los Angeles, Vegas and Dallas walked all over the Oilers PK that currently has the Oilers PK at a sub 70% record which is awful, and although the Panthers home power play has been quite sucky in the postseason, on the road they have been money and have been one of the better teams on the power play especially against Tampa and Carolina, so this is the biggest matchup for me as if the Oilers find their PK form from last year I think they have a strong chance to win, but if they play like they have all playoffs long then Florida will make them pay.

Predictions:

So when it comes to my predictions for this series, I feel it will be a very high event and entertaining series because while both sides play quite well defensively, they are both stellar offensive units that can make offense happen in a flash, so I think this will be a great series but I have been saying Panthers in my predictions videos on YouTube since round two after they dummied Tampa when I thought going in the Bolts were the better team, and I am going to be sticking with my predictions from before and I am saying Panthers in six, I do think there won’t be as many multi goal games as there was last year and I think there will be a lot of the games that will come down to the wire, but just given how dominant the Panthers are, how they roll 4 lines with such ease and their defensive game if Bobrovsky is able to get hot I think is something the Oilers aren’t ready for and I feel that the Panthers will be able to win the Cup in 1 game less then last year and I am taking Florida to win this series and win back to back cups for the first time since Tampa