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Oilers vs Panthers Stanley Cup Finals Game 1 |
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I'm going to do something I don't like doing... show my age.
I was 15 the last time the Oilers were in the Stanley Cup Finals, back in 2006. I bet another guy 20 bucks that Edmonton would win the Stanley Cup. Edmonton would go on to lose in Game 7 and at the time I was more devastated about losing the 20 bucks than I was on the Oilers loss. I'm now 32 years old, married, and would happily give up far more than 20 bucks to see Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers hoist the Cup. Enjoy these moments everyone, because you don't know when the next one will be.
I wanted to take a look at the Oilers and the Panthers and their opponents for each round.
Round 1:
Oilers vs Kings
5 on 5 GA: 12
5 on 5GF: 12
PPG: 9
PPGA: 3
Panthers vs Lightning
5 on 5 GA: 6
5 on 5GF: 10
PPG: 5
PPGA: 1
Round 2
Oilers vs Canucks
5 on 5 GA: 14
5 on 5GF: 16
PPG: 6
PPGA: 3
Panthers vs Bruins
5 on 5 GA: 10
5 on 5GF: 11
PPG: 6
PPGA: 6
Round 3
Oilers vs Stars
5 on 5 GA: 12
5 on 5GF: 11
PPG: 4
PPGA: 0
Panthers vs Rangers
5 on 5 GA: 7
5 on 5GF: 9
PPG: 5
PPGA: 1
As far as difficulty of opponent goes I would say the Lightning were a tougher team than the Kings for a matchup, the Canucks were on par with the Bruins in terms of difficulty and the Stars were a tougher matchup than the Rangers. It's the Stanley Cup Finals. Both of these teams have had to struggle and endure to come to where they are now.
The narrative around both of these teams is intriguing. The Panthers are back in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second straight season after losing 4-1 against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers meanwhile haven't been to the Cup since 2006 and McDavid and Draisaitl are looking for their first Stanley Cup.
For the Panthers, most of the players on that roster have been in this situation before while the Oilers only have a handful of players who have with other teams. Everyone knows that the playoffs are a different beast than the regular season... well the Stanley Cup Finals are a different beast than the playoffs. How quickly the Oilers are able to adjust to that and match what the Panthers already know could be the story of Game 1.
In order for Edmonton to come out on top against the Panthers, they need to find a way to shutdown two very dangerous lines. The Barkov, Verhaeghe, Reinhart line leads the way for the Panthers offensively with 9 goals from Verhaeghe, 8 goals by Reinhart, and 6 goals by Barkov. The wingers in particular have more firepower as Barkov is finally getting credit as the best defensive centre in the game. Against the Rangers, Barkov was only on the ice for 1 GA at 5 on 5 but was also only on the ice for 1 GF; something to watch.
After that is the Tkachuk (5), Bennett (6), and Rodrigues (3) line. The Oilers forward and defensive lineups cannot focus all their attention on one of these lines or they will get hit by the other.
One way Knoblauch appears to try and counter that is how he has split his centres. Edmonton has McDavid, Draisaitl, McLeod, and Henrique down the middle. McLeod is centring Foegele and Perry while Henrique has Brown and Janmark. At 5 on 5 I wouldn't be surprised to see Henrique getting more minutes than McLeod but that is a deep centre matchup for the team.
The biggest weakness of the Oilers remain their #2 right side as it looks like Nurse and Ceci have been reunited. I don't love this move from Knoblauch as Kulak played much better in that spot but we will have to see how the matchup plays out and how quickly the coach adjusts if needed.
This is going to be a heck of a matchup and Game 1 is going to be buzzing. The Oilers need to find a way to manage their emotions early on and make sure they are implementing the game and systems that got them to this moment.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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