Lead up to 2025 Stanley Cup Final 31 May

May 31, 2025

The countdown is on to Game 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final (June 4 at 8 ET on TNT, MAX, SN, TVAS) pitting a rematch between the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers and the Oilers, who are looking to become the first Canadian team to win since the Canadiens in 1993.

* Connor McDavid could follow a path to his first championship similar to Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby, who both won their first Stanley Cup by defeating a team in the Final they lost to in the previous year.

* Connor McDavid and Matthew Tkachuk have been familiar foes in high stakes games over the past year, meeting in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final (Tkachuk win) and the championship game of the 4 Nations Face-Off (McDavid win).

PANTHERS-OILERS SET TO RUN IT BACK AFTER HISTORIC 2024 FINAL

If the rollercoaster 2024 Stanley Cup Final that saw the Panthers jump out to a 3-0 series lead, the Oilers rally all the way back to force a Game 7 and Florida edge out a 2-1 victory in the deciding game to claim the franchise’s first championship wasn’t enough, the two teams have clawed their way back for a second straight season – just the second Stanley Cup Final rematch over the past 40 years.

A look back at the 2024 Stanley Cup Final:

Panthers pounced to a commanding 3-0 series lead

The 2024 Stanley Cup Final opened with the Panthers jumping out to a 3-0 lead – just the second team in a 10-year span to do so – including standout performances from Sergei Bobrovsky, Evan Rodrigues and Aleksander Barkov.

* Bobrovsky blanked the Oilers in Game 1 and allowed just one goal in Game 2. Bobrovsky then made a highlight-reel save with less than five minutes left in Game 3, after the Oilers rallied from a three-goal deficit to pull within one in front of a buzzing crowd at Rogers Place, to preserve the victory and a 3-0 series lead. In total, Bobrovsky stopped 82 of the 86 shots he faced from Games 1-3 with a 1.33 goals-against average, .953 save percentage and one shutout.

* Captain Barkov recorded multiple points in Games 1 and 3 to help lead his team to the 3-0 series lead. They marked his seventh and eighth multi-point games during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which set a new Panthers benchmark for most in a single postseason. Entering the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, Barkov holds Panthers franchise records for career playoff assists (51) and points (76).

* Evan Rodrigues, who remains with the team and has recorded 1-10—11 (15 GP) this postseason, emerged as an unlikely hero in the 2024 Final. Playing in his first season with Florida, and his fourth team across five seasons, Rodrigues scored three times in the opening two contests of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final including a multi-goal effort in Game 2. His three goals tied for the most by a player through the first two games of the Final over the previous 91 years (and one of 10 such instances in the League’s expansion era, since 1967-68).

Oilers rallied with three straight wins of their own to even series

With the Stanley Cup in Rogers Place for Game 4 and the threat of a sweep looming in the air, the Oilers emphatically pushed back on that narrative with an 8-1 victory on home ice to start a three-game win streak of their own to force Game 7.

* McDavid made history with back-to-back four-point games in Games 4 and 5 – the first player in NHL history with consecutive four-point outings in the Final, to revive the Oilers in the series. In total, McDavid led all players with 3-8—11 (7 GP) during the 2024 Stanley Cup Final to set a new mark for active skaters, just two shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record (13 in 1988).

* One Gretzky record McDavid did break in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs was most assists in a single postseason (34). McDavid finished the 2024 postseason with 8-34—42 (25 GP), the fourth-highest single postseason total in NHL history to become the sixth Conn Smythe Trophy-winner from a team that did not win the Stanley Cup.

Panthers fend off Oilers in Game 7 to win franchise’s first Cup

History was going to be made no matter the outcome in the 18th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Final history with either the Panthers earning the first Cup in franchise history or the Oilers becoming just the second team to win a Stanley Cup after trailing 3-0 in the Final.

* A very tight Game 7 saw Bobrovsky return to form (23 saves) and Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart (who rank first and tied for second on the franchise’s all-time playoff goals list), find the scoresheet for Florida in a 2-1 victory. For the first time in franchise history, the Stanley Cup was awarded to Panthers captain Barkov, who became the first Finnish-born player to captain a Stanley Cup winner.

McDAVID CAN FOLLOW CROSBY, GRETZKY’S FOOTSTEPS
Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby know a little bit about what Connor McDavid will attempt to do in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. Prior to this season, the last two Stanley Cup Final rematches saw one of the League’s premier players get redemption to earn their first Stanley Cup.

* The Oilers-Panthers series marks just the third Final rematch across the past 42 years, joining the Islanders-Oilers (1983 & 1984) and Penguins-Red Wings (2008 & 2009). In both of those occurrences, Gretzky (1984) and Crosby (2009) rebounded from a loss in their Stanley Cup Final debut to get redemption and earn their first championship.

* McDavid can also join Gretzky and Crosby on another list. After capturing the Conn Smyth Trophy in 2024, McDavid is again among a list of contenders for the award in 2025 while leading all skaters with 6-20—26 (16 GP). Should he win the trophy again, he would join Gretzky (1985 & 1988) and Crosby (2016 & 2017) on a short list of skaters with multiple Conn Smythe wins that includes Patrick Roy (1986, 1993 & 2001), Mario Lemieux (1991 & 1992), Bobby Orr (1970 & 1972) and Bernie Parent (1974 & 1975).

McDAVID AND TKACHUK SET FOR CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RUBBER MATCH
Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk and Oilers captain Connor McDavid have become familiar foes over the last year, with each coming out on top in championship games: Tkachuk outlasted McDavid’s Oilers in Game 7 to win the 2024 Stanley Cup and McDavid scored the overtime winner in the championship game of the 4 Nations Face-Off to lift Canada over Tkachuk and USA in February.

* Drafted a year apart, McDavid first overall by Edmonton in 2015 and Tkachuk sixth overall by Calgary in 2016, the two have known each other long before the high-stakes games they’ve competed in over the last year. Tkachuk played his first six NHL seasons with the Flames, embroiled in the intense “Battle of Alberta” rivalry against McDavid’s Oilers.

* During Tkachuk’s time in Alberta, he faced McDavid in a memorable 2022 Second Round series that saw the teams combine to average nine goals per game including a wild 9-6 Flames win in Game 1 that featured a Tkachuk hat trick (and four points by McDavid). The series ended in Game 5 with the Oilers advancing off a McDavid overtime winner, the first time he eliminated Tkachuk in extra time, a feat that would be accomplished again at 4 Nations Face-Off.

* In what proved to be a prophetic moment, Tkachuk told McDavid “Hopefully we’ll see you next year” in the handshake line at the conclusion of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.

ONE LAST LOOK BACK WITH CONFERENCE FINALS RECAP

After 1,392 NHL games – plus a 4 Nations Face-Off battle – the Stanley Cup Final is set after decisive Conference Final wins from the Panthers and Oilers. The latest #NHLStats round recap includes a snapshot of what unfolded in the Conference Finals and what is to come in “The Rematch.”