EDMONTON -- The 12th rematch in Stanley Cup Final history gets underway Wednesday, when the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers play Game 1 at Rogers Place (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).
The Panthers defeated the Oilers in seven games to win their first Stanley Cup championship last year.
This is the second Cup Final rematch in the past 40 years and first since the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins faced each other in 2008 and 2009. The Red Wings won in six games in 2008; the Penguins got their revenge in 2009 with a seven-game victory.
"We know the routine, we know the opponent," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. "There were a lot of unknowns last year. Now that we've been here we're just a little more, I don't want to say comfortable, but we just know what the routine is. Do we feel we're stronger, more confident? Yeah, maybe. But we also know the other team is probably stronger than they were last year also. We're going to have to play our best to give ourselves an opportunity."
The difference from last year is the series will open in Edmonton because the Oilers finished the regular season with 101 points, three more than the Panthers.
Florida had home-ice advantage last year and won Games 1 and 2 at Amerant Bank Arena before also taking Game 3 at Rogers Place. Edmonton responded to win Games 4, 5 and 6, but the Panthers won the Stanley Cup with a 2-1 win at home in Game 7.
This year, the Oilers are 6-1 at home in the playoffs, but the Panthers are 8-2 on the road.
"I think for us, what makes us successful is the fact that we just stick to our game," Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. "We don't let the crowd affect us. We do the same things over and over and over again for 60 minutes and we feel if we do that we'll have success. It doesn't matter what the score is of the game. It doesn't matter if it's minute one or minute 59, we're going to be playing the same way."
Despite being the defending champions and their road success this year, forward Matthew Tkachuk said he still thinks the Panthers are underdogs going into the series because it is starting in Edmonton.
"Absolutely," Tkachuk said. "We'll continue riding that underdog role like we have so far. They've earned the right to have home ice. They had a better regular season than us. So we're here starting in Edmonton. It's not something we're new to. We've started on the road each round this playoffs and so have they, so it's kind of crazy. Hopefully we can use that to our advantage again. I don't know, take Game 1 and move on."
Florida returns 14 players to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year; all 14 are expected to play Wednesday.
The Oilers have 16 players on their roster returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season; 13 are expected to play. Forward Zach Hyman is out with a dislocated right wrist, Calvin Pickard will be the backup goalie to Stuart Skinner and forward Derek Ryan is expected to be a healthy scratch.
"Just more comfortable," Edmonton captain Connor McDavid said. "I'm sure everybody says that that's gone through it the second time. It's just more normal, more comfortable, easier to play and function when it's just another day."
Teams that win Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final have gone on to win the Stanley Cup 76.5 percent of the time (65-20), including in each of the past four years. The percentage goes up to 83.9 percent (52-10) when the home team wins Game 1.
Here is a breakdown of Game 1:
Panthers: As Tkachuk pointed out, Florida has started on the road in every round in the playoffs; the Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 in Game 1 of the first round and the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 in the opener of the Eastern Conference Final. That sandwiched losses in Games 1 and 2 of the second round at the Toronto Maple Leafs before they came back to win the series in seven games, including road triumphs in Games 5 and 7. Florida has won five straight games on the road this postseason, and has a plus-27 goal differential (48-21) in its 10 road playoff games.
