Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Don’t look now, but the Rockies are suddenly red-hot. (Two wins in a row!)
In today’s SI:AM:
🏀 How Indy and OKC got to the Finals
🗽 Replacements for Thibs
⚽ MLS power rankings
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Let’s run it back
Hockey isn’t the most popular sport in the United States these days. Last year’s Stanley Cup Final attracted a little more than one-third of the viewership of the NBA Finals. But if you’re a sports fan, you have no excuse not to be intrigued by this year’s Stanley Cup, which begins Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on TNT and Max. Here’s what you need to know, even if you haven’t watched any hockey all year.
The matchup
For the second year in a row, the Final features the Edmonton Oilers against the Florida Panthers. Last year’s edition was a classic, with the Panthers taking a 3–0 series lead before the Oilers stormed back to win three straight and force what ended up being a thriller of a Game 7.
It’s a classic strength vs. strength matchup. The Oilers have long been among the best offensive teams in the NHL, ranking fourth in total goals scored over the past six seasons. On the other hand, the Panthers are a tough, physical, defense-first team, ranking seventh this season in goals allowed. Florida’s defense allowed the Panthers to jump out to a 3–0 lead in last year’s Final, allowing four total goals in the first three games, but then Edmonton began to turn the tide with an 8–1 blowout win in Game 4. The Oilers scored at least five goals in each of the three games they won in last year’s series. They’ll have to win games where their offense is less explosive if they’re going to win the Cup this year.
Key players
Both rosters have undergone some changes since their meeting last year, but the cores of each team remain intact. Edmonton still has two of the most dangerous offensive players in the world in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but Zach Hyman—the team’s second-leading goalscorer in the regular season—will miss the entire series after he was injured in Game 4 of the Western Conference final. Florida’s deep forward group, headlined by Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, is also ready to run it back. They’ll be joined by veteran forward Brad Marchand, a trade deadline acquisition from the Boston Bruins. At 37, he has four goals and 10 assists in 17 games this postseason.
Two key defensemen from last year’s Panthers team—Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson—left in free agency. However, Florida bolstered its blue line at the trade deadline by paying a pretty penny to acquire veteran Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks.
What’s at stake
Florida is seeking to become the 11th team in the expansion era to win back-to-back championships. This feat has been accomplished a couple of times recently. The Tampa Bay Lightning did it in 2020 and ’21, just a few years after the Pittsburgh Penguins won consecutive titles in ’16 and ’17.
Edmonton, on the other hand, is looking to finally get over the hump after years of playoff disappointment. The Oilers took a little while to build a competitive roster around McDavid, Draisaitl and former No. 1 pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Still, they’ve been consistently among the best teams in the league over the past several years, only to fall short in the playoffs. Now, they're playing for a championship for the second year in a row.
The Oilers also seek to snap one of the most infamous droughts in North American sports. A Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993—a streak that has been a source of consternation for our hockey-crazed neighbors to the north. It’s been rare for a Canadian team to even reach the Final at that time. This will be just the seventh time since Montreal’s win that a Canadian team will play for a championship.
What the Oilers are saying
The experience of having already played in a Final has the Oilers feeling more at ease this time around. Defenseman Darnell Nurse said he and his teammates have “more of a sense of calm” this year. More importantly, though, the team believes it is healthier going into this series than it was last year. Hyman’s injury notwithstanding, the rest of the roster is less banged up at this point in the long season.
“It’s not just injuries,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We’ve been able to play fewer games. We’ve had long breaks between two series. Last year, we never had that. The seven-game series against Vancouver was tough. Dallas, it felt like it took a much bigger toll on us.
“Overall, I’d say we’re in a little bit better position physically.”
What the Panthers are saying
Florida has even more experience in the Final, having been defeated by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023 before winning last year. Having been on both the winning and the losing sides in recent years gives the Panthers a unique perspective as they seek to repeat as champs.
“We know how hard it is to make it this far, to make the finals,” Barkov said. “The first year we went, we were all like, ‘Wow, this is something new for us.’ I think last year was more like, ‘OK, we’re here again, let’s do the job.’ This year, we knew it was going to be hard, but here we are again. Every year is a little different, but it’s the same excitement and same goal: We want to win it again.”
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Today’s Digital Cover is Chris Mannix’s look at how the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder built championship-worthy rosters despite playing in two of the league’s smallest markets.
- The New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau after the team’s most successful season in 25 years.
- Liam McKeone came up with a list of potential Thibs replacements for the Knicks.
- Inter Miami moved into the top five in Ben Steiner’s latest MLS power rankings.
- Wake Forest’s baseball coach apologized after being caught on camera directing an anti-LGBTQ slur at an opposing player, but the school did not announce any disciplinary action.
- The Colorado Rockies have finally won a series after losing 22 in a row.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Lynn Biyendolo’s one-touch finish in the U.S. women’s national team’s win over Jamaica.
4. The Storm’s ball movement for an open three after a nice defensive stop.
3. Home plate umpire Laz Diaz’s comically bad strike call.
2. Max Muncy’s vicious homer to tie the game for the Dodgers in the ninth. They went on to beat the Mets in extras after a bizarre defensive blunder by Brandon Nimmo.
1. Reds outfielder TJ Friedl’s robbery on a would-be game-tying home run for the final out of Cincinnati’s win over the Braves.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | The Casual Hockey Fan’s Guide to the Stanley Cup Final.