The 2025 Stanley Cup Final is set. For the second consecutive year, it’s the Florida Panthers vs. the Edmonton Oilers in the final round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Not all sequels are as good as the original. Will this one be Rocky II? Or will it be The Godfather III? More importantly, can the Oilers win this time — ending the drought for Canadian teams winning the Cup, a streak going back to 1993?
Here are the major details on the series, from the schedule and betting intel (courtesy of ESPN BET) to notes on each club and the matchup from ESPN Research.
Stanley Cup Final
Paths to the Final:
Oilers: Defeated Kings in six, Golden Knights in five, Stars in fivePanthers: Defeated Lightning in five, Maple Leafs in seven, Hurricanes in five
Schedule:
Game 1: Panthers at Oilers, June 4, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)Game 2: Panthers at Oilers, June 6, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)Game 3: Oilers at Panthers, June 9, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)Game 4: Oilers at Panthers, June 12, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)Game 5: Panthers at Oilers, June 14, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)Game 6: Oilers at Panthers, June 17, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)Game 7: Panthers at Oilers, June 20, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
Betting intel
Cup winner:
Oilers: -115Panthers: -105
Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP)
Connor McDavid (EDM): -110Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA): +250Aleksander Barkov (FLA): +425Leon Draisaitl (EDM): +800Matthew Tkachuk (FLA): +2500Sam Bennett (FLA): +3000
Matchup notes
This is the 12th Stanley Cup Final rematch in NHL history, the fifth in the expansion era (since 1967-68), and the first since 2008-09. The past two occurrences — Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Detroit Red Wings in 2008 and 2009, Edmonton Oilers vs. New York Islanders in 1983 and 1984 — included Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky winning their first Cup. A good sign for Connor McDavid?
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
The Panthers did not touch the Prince of Wales Trophy as winners of the Eastern Conference last year, after they did so in both 1996 and 2023 when they won it on those occasions. Florida won the Cup in 2024 after not touching it, while it lost in the Cup Final the previous two times when the team touched it. The Oilers decided this year to touch the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl for winning the Western Conference. They did not touch the trophy last year, nor did they do so in 2006 — and yet they lost the Stanley Cup Final in seven games both times.
In last year’s Cup Final, the Panthers raced out to a 3-0 lead on an aggregate score of 11-4. The Oilers won the next three by a combined score of 18-5. Game 7 was the tightest game of the series by far, ending with a 2-1 win for the Panthers; the game-winning goal occurred at 15:11 of the second period, Sam Reinhart’s 10th of the 2024 postseason.
The Panthers won both of their 2024-25 regular-season games against the Oilers (6-5 at Florida on Dec. 16 and 4-3 at Edmonton on Feb. 27).
This series will feature the top four picks from the 2014 NHL draft: Aaron Ekblad (No. 1 to FLA), Sam Reinhart (No. 2 to BUF), Leon Draisaitl (No. 3 to EDM) and Sam Bennett (No. 4 to CGY). It’s the second final in NHL history where each of top four picks from the same NHL draft (skaters and goaltenders) dress in at least one game for either team — joining the 2024 final, with the same players.
0:27
Panthers advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the 3rd consecutive year
The Florida Panthers defeat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games to advance to their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final.
Team notes
Oilers
The Oilers will play in the Stanley Cup Final for the ninth time, which passes the Philadelphia Flyers (eight) for the most among non-Original-Six franchises, and ranks seventh overall.
Breaking News from Emily Kaplan
Download the ESPN app and enable Emily Kaplan’s news alerts to receive push notifications for the latest updates first. Opt in by tapping the alerts bell in the top right corner. For more information, click here.
Edmonton is the eighth team in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to reach the Stanley Cup Final despite losing their first two games of their opening playoff series. Each of the other seven clubs to do so ended up winning the Stanley Cup: the 2018 Washington Capitals, 2014 Los Angeles Kings, 2011 Boston Bruins, 2006 Carolina Hurricanes, 2002 Detroit Red Wings, 1993 Montreal Canadiens and 1992 Penguins. The 2014 Kings are the only club in NHL history to start 0-3 and win the Cup.
Connor McDavid averages 1.73 points per game against the Panthers in his career, including playoffs. That’s the highest rate against Florida by any player in the franchise’s history (min. 20 GP). The players right behind McDavid: Joe Sakic (1.44 points per game), Peter Forsberg (1.43), Mario Lemieux (1.32).
After losing his first three starts this postseason, Stuart Skinner is 6-1 in his past seven starts, with a 1.41 goals-against average, .944 save percentage and three shutouts.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the longest serving current Oilers player, can become the second player in NHL history to play his first 14-plus seasons with a franchise and then win his first Stanley Cup with them. He would join Steve Yzerman (1997 with Detroit, his 14th season)
Panthers
The Panthers are the ninth franchise in NHL history with three consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances, and second in the past 40 years, joining the Lightning from 2020-22.
Florida can become the 10th franchise in NHL history to repeat as Stanley Cup champions and eighth during the expansion era.
The Panthers will enter Game 1 in Edmonton having won their past five road playoff games, outscoring opponents 27-7 over those five games while going 6-for-14 (42.9%) on the power play.
Over Florida’s past 10 games this postseason, Sergei Bobrovsky has a 1.57 goals-against average, .935 save percentage and two shutouts. He enters the 2025 Stanley Cup Final with 57 career playoff wins, second-most among active goalies behind only Andrei Vasilevskiy (67).
Carter Verhaeghe scored his third career series-clinching goal in the Eastern Conference finals, and now trails only Max Pacioretty and Artturi Lehkonen (both with four) for the most among all active players. Verhaeghe’s 12 career game-winning goals in the playoffs are twice as many as the next-closest player in Panthers history (Matthew Tkachuk, six).
Sam Bennett scored in Game 5 against Carolina and became the first player to reach the 10-goal mark in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. He also became the second-fastest player in franchise history to hit the benchmark in a postseason, behind Dave Lowry (15 games played in 1996). Bennett’s 10 goals are tied for the third-most in a single postseason in Panthers history, behind Carter Verhaeghe (2024) and Matthew Tkachuk (2023) with 11 each.
