BLOG: Oilers feel better equipped to deal with Stanley Cup Final emotions

EDMONTON, AB – Connor Brown understood the assignment.

Despite being injured for Game 4 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place last Tuesday, the winger had been reading the starting lineup in the Oilers dressing room for their previous two victories, so he wasn’t going to let his absence stop the streak.

After Head Coach Kris Knoblauch gave his pre-game address and motioned as if he was going to hand the lineup sheet to Brown, who didn’t appear to be in the room, out popped the winger from the cabinet beneath the team’s TV screen to surprise his teammates, pumping them up before their 4-1 victory that gave them a 3-1 series lead with another rousing lineup read.

“Actually, our [Video & Analytics Coaching Coordinator Erik Elenz] did it during the regular season,” Brown said. “We had a little winning streak, and he was coming up with stuff, so I took that one out of his book. Thought it’d get the boys going a bit.”

“I was in there at the eight-minute mark, so it was 20-plus minutes in there. I had my phone and a little cushion, so it wasn't too bad. I was texting [Assistant Equipment Manager Brad Harrison] and he was giving me the lineup, so I had to memorize it. He was giving me a play-by-play of what was going on."

Brown and his Oilers teammates are hoping for a few more light-hearted moments like those over the next few weeks in comparison to last year’s trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Having been in this position before, the Oilers know the importance of not letting the pressure of the moment get the best of them, and this is one of the ways they’ve learned to deal with the emotions of the Stanley Cup Final that they’ve experienced first-hand from last year’s run.

“I think that's exactly it. When you're playing the Stanley Cup Final and you're trying to break through, the pressure's high and the moment's big, and it's important to kind of have fun along the way,” Brown said. “I think that's what this team does a really good job of. We have fun for one another, we play for one another, and it doesn't mean we play any less hard; if anything, we play harder, but it just relaxes us.

“We learned a lot from last year and understand what it takes, so it’s nice to have that blueprint.”

This time, just like how Brown understood what was necessary to get his teammates fired up, the Oilers know what to expect in the Stanley Cup Final.

Brown, who says he expects to be ready for Game 1, attests that he and his teammates are better equipped to deal with the pressures involved in competing for the Stanley Cup, having the majority of their team back from last year's run to Game 7 against the Florida Panthers.

The Oilers have already put many of those lessons learned into practice during the 2025 playoffs, and it has yielded three straight series victories in five games, where they managed to fall behind 1-0 in each of them before settling down through experience to win the next four games on three occasions.

It feels a lot more normal for the Oilers this time around, knowing exactly what it takes to deal with the emotions and stresses of the Stanley Cup Final and what has to be done to help them win the last game of the season after last year's 2-1 defeat to the Panthers in the deciding game.

"Last year when we punched our ticket, there was only a few guys that had been there, so I kind of felt like there was that big shock factor," he said. "This year, we understood what it took, given our experience last year. So, we essentially followed the blueprint and stuck to the process, believing that we would achieve the results we wanted. We will continue that, so I think we'll be ready to go right from the get-go this time."

Forward Leon Draisaitl said the Oilers have done a better job in these playoffs putting themselves in positions of strength rather than having to fight their way back from more precarious situations, including in ladt year's Western Final trailing 2-1 to the Stars and being 3-0 down in the Cup Final to the Panthers.

The Oilers used that experience to overturn a 2-0 deficit in the First Round to the Kings and a 1-0 deficit in the Second Round to the Stars, showing that they have a greater ability to lessen the damage while being they're extra confident when playing from an advantage with a 12-2 record in their last 14 games.

"I don't know about an advantage, but we've certainly handled those situations really well this year through experience, through the last couple of years, and I think we've done a really good job of putting ourselves in those situations and not making it as stressful maybe as in the past," Draisaitl said. "So we'll see how much it's going to help us. But I think we've got a lot of guys in here that have their legs and feel really good about themselves.

This time, the Oilers have the added benefit of opening up on home ice, but Draisaitl says it won't play as much of a factor until later in the series.

"It's nice to be at home right now," he said. "It's nice to start at home, of course, but until it gets later on in the series, it really doesn't matter. Both teams have two games at home, two games on the road, and you take it from there. We're looking to get it off to a good start."