Feels Like The First Time

With having all four of the conference finalists from last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs playing in the conference finals again, there was a pretty good chance that we were going to get a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup Final. Without summoning air guitarists and karaoke stars belting out Foreigner's hit song, tonight's win by the Edmonton Oilers to eliminate the Dallas Stars should surprise no one considering that Edmonton was well-rested coming into the series. It might be shocking to see the Oilers disassemble the Stars in the manner they did, but when McDavid and Draisaitl are playing their best hockey, they are unstoppable. Needless to say, Edmonton is headed back to the Stanley Cup Final where they will play the waiting Florida Panthers for the second-straight Stanley Cup Final.

I'm not big on posting predictions here, but does anyone think this year's series will see a different result? This year's final likely won't need seven games as the Florida Panthers look like a machine in sending Carolina home, but the Oilers think they have more grit and better defence to compete with the defending champions. And while they do have more grit and better defence on paper, it means little when the Panthers have been chewing up opposing teams with their four lines of relentless buzzsaws they send over the boards.

Do I expect Edmonton to fall behind 3-0 in this series? No. The Oilers have learned from last season's playoffs that they need to impose their will whenever possible. Missing Zach Hyman won't help, but having their top six defenders all healthy will be a bigger boost than one right-winger's presence. If Ryan Nugent-Hopkins can continue his inspired play, the Oilers should be able to rattle the cage of the Florida Panthers a little more in the early portion of the final.

Where this series could be decided is on the depth charts and in the crease. Everyone is raving about how Edmonton shut down Dallas, but did we expect Dallas to get into a track meet in any game? Pundits are yapping about Stuart Skinner's resurgeance in the Dallas series and how he's refound his game, but he's still very much the Stuart Skinner who got bombed in the Los Angeles series. Florida has the kind of explosive offence that can dent twine often, and that poses a big problem if Skinner's confidence in himself wavers even a tiny bit.

The reason the Panthers can do that is they have depth unlike anyone else. Ten players already are in double-digits for points, and they come from virtually all of Florida's lines. Barkov, Tkachuk, and Reinhart might be expected, but Bennett, Marchand, Verhaeghe, Luostarinen, Lundell, and Rodrigues give Florida a double-digit scorer for every trio over the boards. Tkachuk, Barkov, and Verhaeghe all have six-or-more power-play points as well, so special teams are clicking for the Panthers as they enter the final.

That's not to say that Edmonton doesn't have its own special players with McDavid, Draisaitl, and Nugent-Hopkins sitting first, second, and fourth in playoff scoring, but things fall off dramatically after Evan Bouchard's 17 points. The depth that Florida has simply cannot be matched by Edmonton where the likes of Evander Kane, Corey Perry, Adam Henrique, and Viktor Arvidsson don't bring the same scoring prowess on every shift. Depth is a mismatch in Florida's favour.

Where Florida won't have an answer is the McDavid factor. No one can match McDavid's skill, speed, savvy, and vision when he's playing focused, and the Oilers will need that every game they play in the final. The Panthers will undoubtedly check him by committee led by Barkov and Bennett, but McDavid will get his points. He always does. All the Panthers have to do, like last season, is limit how many opportunities he gets to collect points. Rinse and repeat, right?

Oilers fans will scoff and say this season will be different, but the Panthers got gritter, more talented, and seem to be playing for each other more than ever before. I know Edmonton has been the underdog in all three series they've played thus far, but that's a song they'll sign once more in the Stanley Cup Final as they square off against the defending champions next week at home at Rogers Arena.

Will the City of Champions reclaim its name this season or does Cat Scratch Fever continue for another season? We'll know by mid-June as to which of those options is true, but, if this is like last season's final, Foreigner's tune may carry on because this year's final, on paper, feels like the first time these two teams met in the Stanley Cup Final.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!