The Florida Panthers enter the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers with just two regular season matchups between the two teams, and one of those was nearly seven months ago.
When the Stanley Cup Final begins Saturday, the Florida Panthers will be taking on an Edmonton Oilers squad that is hot at the right time. The Panthers have their work cut out for them on the path to their first Stanley Cup.
Florida enters the series with little first-hand knowledge when evaluating the Oilers. The two teams faced off just twice in the regular season, the first of which was nearly seven months ago. Here’s a look back at how the Panthers fared against their final opponent of the 2023-24 postseason:
Nov. 23 at Amerant Bank Arena
It was an offensive battle for the teams’ first matchup of the season. Both teams found the back of the net twice in the first period. The Oilers came out firing to a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals from Connor McDavid and Evander Kane. The Panthers clawed back in the final 10 minutes of the period with goals from Carter Verhaeghe and Niko Mikkola.
McDavid notched his second goal for the Oilers in the second period. He was matched by Mikkola, who scored his second to tie it again at 3. Edmonton’s three goals are just above Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky’s 2.20 goals against average. Kevin Stenlund added another goal for the Panthers and Florida finished period two up 4-3.
Sam Bennett wrapped up the Panthers win with his first goal of the season in the final minute of the third period.
Florida took another win against Edmonton in a more dominant fashion. The Panthers opened the first period with three goals from the trio of Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov and Brandon Montour. Bennett added the Panthers’ fourth goal of the game in the second period before the Oilers could get on the board with a goal from Zach Hyman.
Verhaeghe scored his second goal of the game in the third period to cap off a 5-1 win for the Panthers.
