After what seemed like an internal wait after the two Conference Finals, the 2025 Stanley Cup Final is here. For the second straight year, the Florida Panthers will take on the the Edmonton Oilers. Last year, the Panthers won in seven games. Florida nearly blew a three wins to zero lead but recovered to win the last game. Game time on Wednesday is 8:00 p.m. EDT (TNT, TRUTV. MAX).
Path to the Final
Western Conference Quarterfinal: Edmonton defeated Los Angeles, four games to two
Eastern Conference Quarterfinal: Florida defeated Tampa Bay, four games to one
Western Conference Seminal: Edmonton defeated Vegas, four games to one
Eastern Conference Semifinal: Florida defeated Toronto, four games to three
Western Conference Final: Edmonton defeated Dallas, four games to one
Eastern Conference Final: Florida defeated Carolina, four games to one
Stanley Cup Final Schedule
Game 1 at Edmonton (June 4, 2025)
Game 2 at Edmonton (June 6, 2025)
Game 3 at Sunrise (June 9, 2025)
Game 4 at Sunrise (June 12, 2025)
Game 5 at Edmonton (June 14, 2025) – if necessary
Game 6 at Sunrise (June 17, 2025) – if necessary
Game 7 at Edmonton (June 20, 2025) – if necessary
Special teams comparison
Power Play: Edmonton 12-for-40, 30.0 percent, Florida 13-for-56, 23.3 percent
Penalty Kill: Edmonton 31-for-47, 66.0 percent, Florida 51-for-58, 87.9 percent
Game One projected lineup: Edmonton
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Corey Perry
Evander Kane – Leon Draisaitl – Kasperi Kapanen
Trent Frederic – Adam Henrique – Connor Brown (game time decision)
Vasily Podkolzin – Mattias Janmark – Viktor Arvidsson
Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse – Brett Kulak
Jake Walman – John Klingberg
Stuart Skinner
[Calvin Pickard]
Game One projected lineup: Florida
Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen (?) – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
Jesper Boqvist – Tomas Nosek -Jonah Gadjovich
Gustav Forsling -Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
[Vitek Vanecek]
Three keys to victory
- Special teams: This one of the two areas where the Panthers have a huge on-paper edge, primarily in terms of the penalty kill. The Panthers tend to play a lot of special teams situations. If the Oilers continue to allow an opposing power play goal for every three PK situations, it’ll be hard to win.
- Goaltending: The Panthers know what they’ll get from veteran elite netminder Bobrovsky. Skinner is a wildcard for the Oilers.
- Five-man units: Edmonton’s greatly improved all-around play was on full display against Edmonton. This is a better version of the the team that took the Panthers to the limit last year. Paul Maurice’s team needs to be ready.
