After nearly a week wait, hockey is back.
Wednesday, the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers open the 2025 Stanley Cup Final with Game 1 at Rogers Place. The Panthers are looking to become back-to-back champs while the Oilers are looking to avenge their avenge their Game 7 series loss last year and end a Canadian championship drought that extends all the way to 1993 (Montreal Canadiens).
The Oilers are led by Connor McDavid (26) and Leon Draisaitl (25), who are first and second in playoff scoring. Goaltender Stuart Skinner has been superb in net too, posting a 6-4 record along with a 2.53 goals against average, .904 save percentage, and three shutouts. Edmonton will play without Zach Hyman due to a dislocated right wrist he suffered in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final.
Florida is more of a group attack on offense, seeing seven different players have 13 points or more: Aleksander Barkov (17), Sam Bennett (16), Matthew Tkachuk (16), Brad Marchand (14), Carter Verhaeghe (14), Eetu Luostarinen (13), and Sam Reinhart (13). Sergei Bobrovsky has once again been sensational in the postseason, sporting a 12-5 record along with a 2.11 goals against average, .912 save percentage, and 3 shutouts.
Puck drop is a little after 8 pm. The game can be watched on TNT in the United States and Sportsnet in Canada. Here’s RMNB’s predictions for the series.
