The Florida Panthers will play the Dallas Stars or Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers advanced to the Cup Final for the third straight season on Wednesday by eliminating the Carolina Hurricanes with a 5-3 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. They also defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the first round and the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the second round.
“We’re going to be very prepared," forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "It was really different, two years ago it was so new to us. We had a lot of – we had 10 or 11 days off – which this year if we had it, we would be so much different because of it. It was almost like two years ago we needed to play and ride that wave like two days later. … Whenever we start, we’ll be very prepared. Whoever we play, we’ll be very prepared for them. It’s not our first rodeo with this. We’re looking forward to the journey of getting there and then ultimately the series. It’s the time of our lives. So might as well enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, you probably shouldn’t be here. So we’re going to enjoy every minute of it.”
Florida (47-31-4), which is the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division, will start on the road against Dallas (50-26-6), the No. 2 seed from the Central Division, or Edmonton (48-29-5), the No. 3 seed in the Pacific Division. The Oilers lead that series 3-1 entering Game 5 at American Airlines Center on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).
The Panthers are 1-2 in the Final. They defeated the Oilers in seven games last season, lost in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, and were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.
“We want to win Stanley Cups. We want to compete for Stanley Cups every single year,” Aleksander Barkov said. “Obviously there’s 31 other teams in the League and it’s hard every single year, they want to do that too, so it’s not easy. But we managed to do three years in a row, which is, I think, incredible achievement so far.
“But obviously we’re here to compete [for] and win the Stanley Cup.”
Barkov leads the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in 17 games. Sam Bennett (10 goals, six assists) and Tkachuk (five goals, 11 assists) each has 16 points, and Carter Verhaeghe (six goals, eight assists) and Brad Marchand (four goals, 10 assists) each has 14 points.
Five other players have at least 10 points for the Panthers, and 19 of their 22 skaters who have played this postseason have scored at least one goal.
Sergei Bobrovsky has played every minute in net for Florida, going 12-5 with a 2.11 goals-against average, .912 save percentage and three shutouts.
Edmonton defeated the Los Angeles Kings in six games in the first round before eliminating Vegas in five games in the second round. The Oilers, who lost 2-1 to the Panthers in Game 7 of the Cup Final last season, have won the Stanley Cup five times, most recently in 1990.
Florida was 2-0-0 against Edmonton during the regular season, winning 6-5 at Rogers Place on Dec. 16, and 4-3 at home on Feb. 27.
Anton Lundell had five points (one goal, four assists) in those two games, and Verhaeghe (two goals, one assist), Sam Reinhart (one goal, two assists) and Aaron Ekblad (three assists) each had three points. Bobrovsky started each game and had a 4.01 GAA and .860 save percentage.
Connor McDavid led the Oilers with four assists against the Panthers. Zach Hyman scored three goals and Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist. Stuart Skinner was 0-2-0 with a 5.10 GAA and .844 save percentage.
Dallas defeated Colorado in seven games in the first round before eliminating the Winnipeg Jets, who won the Presidents' Trophy, in six games in the second round. The Stars are looking to advance to the Cup Final for the fourth time since relocating from Minnesota prior to the 1993-94 season. They won the Cup in 1999, defeating the Sabres in six games, and lost in 2000 (to the New Jersey Devils) and 2020 (to the Tampa Bay Lightning).
The Panthers were 2-0-0 against the Stars, winning each game in Tampere, Finland, as part of the 2024 Global Series. Florida won 6-4 on Nov. 1 and 4-2 on Nov. 2.
Reinhart (three goals, two assists) and Barkov (one goal, four assists) each had five points, and Evan Rodrigues (two goals, one assist) and Ekblad (three assists) each had three points against the Stars. Bobrovsky made 32 saves in the 6-4 win and Spencer Knight, who was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for defenseman Seth Jones on March 1, made 23 saves in the 4-2 win.
Matt Duchene led the Stars against the Panthers with four points (one goal, three assists), and Esa Lindell (one goal, one assist) and Ilya Lyubushkin (two assists) each had two points. Jake Oettinger allowed six goals on 28 shots in the 6-4 loss, and backup Casey DeSmith allowed three goals on 24 shots in the 4-2 loss.
“It’s not easy to do, to be three times in a row in the Stanley Cup Final," Bobrovsky said. "It’s not easy to do. It’s a big achievement for us, but the biggest step is ahead of us and we’re all excited about it.”
