As the esteemed Yogi Berra used to say, it’s “deja vu all over again”. For just the fifth time in the modern NHL era, the combatants for the Stanley Cup will be the same two conference champions that did battle last June. BLEACHER REPORT’s Lyle Fitzsimmons dropped the news of how that was secured late last night:
The (Edmonton) Oilers are back in the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row after Thursday night’s 6-3 win over the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final. They return to the NHL’s showpiece series with two big differences from last year: a deeper, more balanced team and home-ice advantage.
And they have more determination than ever to benefit from those strengths, having fallen one game short of an unprecedented Finals comeback from a 0-3 deficit by dropping a Game 7 in South Florida as the calendar changed to summer last June. This time, should that recur they’ll be the ones with the crazy fans cheering on a team that has exploded at the right time, quickly recovering from a first round 0-2 deficit against the Los Angeles Kings to oust those arch-rivals for the fourth consecutive year. It was also the second consecutive year that they ousted Dallas. If nothing else, the Oilers are redundant–in a good way.
But as Fitzsimmons reminded, that narrative is far more true in the post-season. The road to this showdown was a lot more complicated and filled with pitfalls:
Coach Kris Knoblauch’s group ground its gears through an uneven 2024-25 before ultimately placing behind the Golden Knights and Kings in the Pacific. Third in the division, sixth in the conference and all but guaranteed to be early-round cannon fodder regardless of matchup. Given recent history, it all made sense.
Until it didn’t. Rather than crumbling after a 12-goal onslaught in Los Angeles to begin Round 1, Edmonton switched goalies, tightened systems and allowed just 12 more while sweeping Games 3 through 6.
Then, instead of melting after a Calvin Pickard injury and an own goal at home against Vegas in Round 2, the Oilers went back to Stuart Skinner and ended that series with consecutive shutouts.
They will likely need every bit of that grit and resolve with the Broward County Bullies–a.k.a. the Florida Panthers– because they, too, have much more than what they’ve already accomplished as their goal, as THE ASSOCIATED PRESS wrote yesterday in the aftermath of their second consecutive conquest of the Carolina Hurricanes:
The franchise that could not win a playoff series for a quarter-century now is in the midst of a back-to-back-to-back run to the NHL’s championship round. Florida won 25 playoff games in its first 28 seasons combined; the Panthers have won 
41 playoff games — and counting — in their most recent three seasons. The novelty of winning at this time of year hasn’t worn off, but the Panthers simply have become used to it now. The main thing — the Cup — is the main thing. That’s why after the most recent win, beating Carolina to finish off the Eastern Conference title in five games, there were no helmets being thrown in the air, no raucous beer-spraying locker room scene, no thick wafts of cigar smoke. A few handshakes, something to eat, and that was it.
These Oilers can draw from the memory of their predecessors from 41 years ago, who became the first ex-WHA team to win a Stanley Cup and the first team not named the New York Islanders to win one in the 1980s, as CBS SPORTS’ Chris Bengel wrote this morning:
The rivalry began in the 1983 Stanley Cup Final where the Islanders came away with a four-game series sweep. New York outscored its counterparts 17-6 in those four games, and racked up at least five goals in two of those contests. Islanders goaltender Billy Smith won the Conn Smythe Trophy with an impressive 13-3-0 record throughout the 1983 postseason. Smith allowed just six total goals during the Stanley Cup Final.
When the script flipped to the 1984 Stanley Cup Final, it was a completely different story as the Oilers imposed their will this time around as Edmonton defeated New York in five games. The two teams split the series over the first two games with the Oilers being held to just two total goals, but produced an offensive explosion after that. The Oilers registered at least five goals in each of the final three games. Oilers star forward Mark Messier secured Conn Smythe Trophy honors with eight goals and 18 assists during the postseason, while tallying three goals and an assist in the Stanley Cup Final.
And the Panthers will need to avoid the fate that was met by both the Islanders and the 2008-09 Detroit Red Wings as defending cup champions, as Bengel continued:
The Red Wings were victorious in the first two games of the series yet again, but the Penguins were able to make the necessary adjustments down the stretch. Pittsburgh won four of the final five games — including a 2-1 win in Game 7 on the back of Max Talbot’s two-goal performance — to secure their first Stanley Cup since 1992.
I think regular readers know by now I’m an unapologetic Panthers fan so I’m more than a little jazzed. But I’m also a realist–this one’s gonna be tougher. And it certainly doesn’t help the emotional levels that Edmonton is trying to win the first Stanley Cup for Canada in 32 years, and they’re doing so against a team that plays mere minutes away from Mar-A-Lago. The Sunshine State versus The “51st State”, if you must.
It all starts Wednesday night up in Alberta. Get your All Dressed ready.
Courage…