Matchups, special teams, man games lost and more give us insight into what to expect – and who might win.
While some fans consider a Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers a nightmare in terms of whom to root for, rest assured this is an excellent matchup on the ice. Both teams were almost always considered to be Cup contenders this season, even if they had to deal with some early season adversity to get there, and they were two of the best teams going into the playoffs.
Partway through the season, I discovered a trend that the previous five Stanley Cup winners either finished in the top 10 in 5v5 xGF/60 and xGA/60, or in the case of the Colorado Avalanche, were just outside in terms of 5v5 xGF/60 but had the shooting talent to make up for it. I then looked at the teams that followed that trend both atand more or less said that I didn’t expect every team that made that list to do well in the playoffs, but whatever team did make it far would probably win the Cup.
With the Panthers and Oilers being excellent offensively and defensively at even strength, this series is going to come down to where they can find the slightest edge against the other team. For Florida, that comes in their top line center and captainall had really great years worthy of Hart Trophy votes, but against Barkov in the postseason, they scored one goal between the three of them in a combined 86:07.
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