Cup Final between Panthers, Oilers will be like reality TV, TNT's Olczyk says

EDMONTON -- The Stanley Cup Final will be can't-miss TV, said Eddie Olczyk, the man who will help narrate the best-of-7 series between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.

It will be like the NHL's version of "Survivor."

"If people want to be entertained, there's not going to be any better reality TV than Wednesday night on TNT at 8 Eastern with Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final," the former Stanley Cup champ said.

That's when Game 1 of the Final will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX), the first chapter in what should be an epic rematch of last year's championship round.

And to create great reality TV you need conflict, along with simple, yet emotional plot lines involving heroes and villains with a shared history and a lust to win the big prize.

This Final has it all.

The Panthers, who won the Cup last season, are in their third straight Final and are attempting to become the League's latest dynasty while fronted by two of the game's most charismatic and polarizing forwards in Brad Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk.

"When you look at all the common denominators [from] the teams that have gone on these runs, whether they've won in the Stanley Cup Final or not, you have got stability and you have game-breakers," Olczyk said. "You need those in order to win in the National Hockey League.

"Maybe you get the outlier every once in a while, but when you have stars and game-breakers, you give yourself a chance to win and go on these types of runs."

Aside from Marchand and Tkachuk, who defeat and infuriate teams as easily with their mouths and their nefarious ways as they do with their clutch scoring, the Panthers have captain Aleksander Barkov, who might be the best 200-foot player in the game, and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who allowed five goals on 110 shots in the four wins against the Oilers in last season's Final.

The Oilers are looking to break through after losing 2-1 in Game 7 last June. They are led by the game's most recognizable and arguably best player in forward Connor McDavid, who wants a Stanley Cup to further burnish his growing legacy.

Forward Leon Draisaitl, arguably the second-best player in the world, is his faithful companion.

McDavid played for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, a loaded team that featured a plethora of tested champions, including Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon. McDavid scored the OT goal in the championship game against the U.S. to win his first major championship since his junior hockey days.

Anson Carter, the former NHL player turned analyst who is part of the TNT hockey panel, says McDavid seems to be a different player after that experience.

"It looks like he's taken all that information and we're seeing a better version of himself," Carter said. "Like, I didn't think that was possible, but that certainly looks to be the case when I watch him play with the Edmonton Oilers now.

"And listening to him speak after games, he just seems so composed and so relaxed. And I think he even said it. He said last year was way more emotional. Now this is a place where we feel like we should be, so it doesn't feel as emotional anymore."

McDavid won the Conn Smythe as the most valuable player in the postseason last season despite playing for the losing team, the first time that has happened since goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere did it for the Anaheim Ducks in 2003.

The Oilers captain had a League-best 42 points (eight goals, 34 assists) in 25 games last postseason. He leads the League again this season with 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 16 games.

Even the most casual fan's eyes are drawn to No. 97. There is an innate understanding that something special could happen each time he takes the ice.

Olczyk played against special players in the NHL. He coached Crosby during the Pittsburgh Penguins forward's early years in Pittsburgh and played for the Chicago Blackhawks when Michael Jordan was rising to super stardom in the same city with the Bulls.

McDavid reminds Olczyk of each of those transcendental players.

"He just has an unbelievable ability to rise to the occasion and you just know that, ‘Hey, if the clock is running down and we need a goal or we need to play,' I just feel like I have to watch it because something good is going to happen," he said. "We've seen that probably six or seven times in these playoffs so far."

In this Final, there are scores to be settled, grievances to be aired and, hopefully, seven more compelling games like last season, when the Panthers took a 3-0 series lead before almost spitting the bit.

"I mean, I'm expecting a long series," Olczyk said. "I'm packing for two-plus weeks. So I just think that this has got a chance to be an unbelievable showcase of our game with the team trying to go for a back-to-back Cups. The best player in the world, stars on both teams. I think it's got a chance to just be great. We'll see how it all plays out starting Wednesday."