PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Panthers

The Edmonton Oilers will host the Florida Panthers at Rogers Place on Thursday night in a rematch of the 2024 & 2025 Stanley Cup Finals.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 7:00pm MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED. Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Panthers

EDMONTON, AB – Can't sleep on the Cats.

The Edmonton Oilers will welcome the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers to Rogers Place on Thursday as they continue trying to bank as many points as possible in their push for the playoffs with only 13 games left on the schedule.

The Oilers earned a massive 5-3 win over San Jose on Tuesday despite the loss of Leon Draisaitl for the rest of the regular season due to a lower-body injury, utilizing their depth by getting points from 13 different players and defending strongly to increase the gap in the standings between them and the playoff-chasing Sharks to seven points.

"It's big," Adam Henrique said. "No one guy is going to replace his spot, so that's something that collectively we're going to have to do from here right to the end of the season and see where that takes us. So I thought tonight we did a good job responding at times throughout the game, and chipping in like that offensively is big."

Max Jones scored the game-winning goal, and Henrique had two points as part of an effective fourth line in limited minutes with Trent Frederic, who also posted an assist.

Edmonton's balanced attack included a power-play goal for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, a first goal in an Oilers uniform for Connor Murphy, and further tallies from Vasily Podkolzin and Zach Hyman (empty-netter) to help overcome a second-period comeback from the Sharks and strengthen their push for first in the Pacific Division.

The Oilers are currently one point back of the Ducks, who have a game in hand, after they fell 3-2 to the Flyers in overtime on Wednesday night.

Having beaten the Oilers in back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, the Panthers aren't quite the same team this season, currently sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Division and 13 points back of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 33-31-3 record.

But that doesn't mean they're about to go easy, given these two teams' history and the fact that a win on Thursday at Rogers Place could impact Edmonton's playoff hopes, where their last visit ended in a Game 5 victory in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final.

Forward Brad Marchand was placed on LTIR on Tuesday, adding to an injured list for the Panthers that includes captain Sasha Barkov (knee) for the entire regular season, Sam Reinhart (undisclosed), Cole Schwindt (lower body), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body) and Uvis Balinskis (undisclosed). 

Sergei Bobrovsky played in his 800th NHL game and made 17 saves in a 5-2 loss to the Canucks on Tuesday as they trek through Western Canada on a four-game road trip.

The Oilers came away with a 6-3 win in the first meeting of the season back on Nov. 22 in Florida after a two-goal night from Jack Roslovic and three points apiece for Mattias
Ekholm (1G, 24) and Evan Bouchard (3A), who both finished plus-five.