Panthers-Oilers Cup Final has makings of ‘great series’ entering Game 2

EDMONTON -- The noise was deafening and the intensity inside Rogers Place, especially on the ice, was seemingly as high as it can get.

It was physical and fast. It was crisp and intelligently played. It was, quite clearly and literally, the two best teams in the NHL going at it once again in the Stanley Cup Final.

And it was only Game 1.

Game 2 is at Rogers Place on Friday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

Buckle up.

"I think every game will be the exact same," Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jake Walman said.

The Oilers and Florida Panthers are going to treat hockey fans around the continent and across the world to one heck of a Stanley Cup Final if the rest of the games in the best-of-7 series are anything like what we saw Wednesday.

Edmonton took the lead 66 seconds in. Florida responded with consecutive goals in a span of 1:41. The Panthers took a two-goal lead two minutes into the second period. Edmonton answered 77 seconds later to cut the deficit to one.

The Oilers evened it in the third and finished a 4-3 multigoal comeback win on Leon Draisaitl's power-play goal at 19:29 in what was looking like it could have been the first of several overtimes.

There were 78 shots on goal and 102 hits, but only five body- or stick-infraction penalties, not including the delay of game minors for a failed challenge and puck over the glass. It was clean, under control and yet bonkers too.

Who wouldn't sign up for six more games of that?

"I find that hockey right now is on such an awesome climb throughout the world and throughout our sport," Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt said. "The energy around it, I hate to point to one thing, but you go back to [the] 4 Nations (Face-Off, in February) and from then on, right, you have such a buzz around our game. Anything that can continue to enhance that will be great. Unfortunately, it'll probably be at the expense of us as players."

Schmidt got the media in the audience to laugh at his last comment, but there's truth to that.

To win at this time of the year players put their bodies through so much. In this series, with the history of the two teams, having met in the Stanley Cup Final last year, the Panthers edging the Oilers in seven games, there was a feeling going in that it was essentially a rivalry continued as opposed to renewed.

Game 1 proved that. It might as well have been Game 8, with Game 2 being Game 9.

The only difference is both teams feel they're better and healthier than they were a year ago, which should only enhance the competition.

"You could even see it," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "They held a lot of the play in the first. We got to our game in the second. They mixed and matched and changed up some of their lines in the third, got some momentum from it. OT, we probably were better in the first little bit of it and then they took over. When you have two really good teams going at it, two of the best teams in the League, you're not going to be able to dominate a whole game. I think everybody saw last night, including us, they are a very, very, very good team with some dangerous players. Even when their top lines are playing together they have other lines that can play. … That wasn't always the case, there so definitely their depth is better. They defend hard, block shots, their goalie is playing well. So, yeah, they're better, we're better. I think it's going to be a great series."

Maybe the part that should fuel excitement about what's to come in this Stanley Cup Final is both teams also believe they have another level to get to in Game 2.

Game 1 was the first time the Oilers played in six days since eliminating the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final on May 29. It had been a week since the Panthers eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final.

"After those long breaks it's tougher to just pick up and play at your best," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. "A couple times in the regular season we did it after a long break [and] we didn't come out very well. It's a little bit different in the playoffs. Everyone knows the importance of the games. Everyone is focused. The adrenaline is running. So it's a little bit easier, but we're going to have to get better as the series goes because we know how good Florida is."

The Panthers only liked pieces of their game, coach Paul Maurice said.

They thought they sat back too much in the third period, when not only did the Oilers tie the game 3-3 on Mattias Ekholm's goal at 6:33, but they outshot the Panthers 14-2.

They feel there are some tweaks that can be made for them to generate more offensive-zone time. Although the teams were even 3-3 in goals from high-danger shots, the Oilers had a 15-6 advantage in high-danger shots on goal.

The Panthers also feel they can be better at handling the Oilers forecheck.

"We're a very mentally strong group so I would say it's probably more technical than mental," Tkachuk said. "We've got a lot of battle scars on us from the last few years and we've been through way worse than just that (Wednesday). We can be better. We can adjust a few things and come out (Friday) and try to get a win here, get some momentum going back home."

They'll likely have to go through the same challenges in the same type of game.

More lead changes. More momentum swings. More goals. More star players playing like star players. More big hits. More legal nastiness. More of everything you want and expect from a good rivalry matchup between two great teams at the most important time of the season.

"The two best teams in the NHL are going at it," Walman said.

For potentially six more games.

Strap in, hockey fans, and enjoy the ride.