Panthers Aim for Stanley Cup Defense in Rematch vs. Oilers

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Transcript

00:00Let's start with the reigning champs in the Florida Panthers, who not only are continuing

00:04that title defense in a yet another Stanley Cup final, but the third consecutive Cup final for

00:10the Panthers. And even the year prior, Pete, in a second round exit, they were the best regular

00:15season team in the National Hockey League in 2022, winning that president's trophy. So four

00:21illustrious seasons in sunrise. What is the best thing about what Florida has done

00:27on this trending dynastic run? I mean, this postseason, it's been their play on the road,

00:34and that's going to be a huge storyline going into games one and two. Can Edmonton hold serve?

00:39They may need to in order to win this series. That's a low key storyline right off the hop,

00:45right off the puck drop in game one in Edmonton. So eight and two on the road are the Florida

00:51Panthers with a plus 27 goal differential. You could talk all about how Edmonton has been

00:56an elite five on five team this postseason with their goal differential. They're like 42 to 26.

01:03But the Panthers have been even better at five on five. So it's really going to be a clash of the

01:08Titans here. And I think with the Florida Panthers, just how deep they are. Remember,

01:13even compared to last year when they won the Cup, they have added Brad Marchand,

01:18the grizzled veteran from the Boston Bruins. And he's had an outstanding postseason on their third

01:23line with Luce Durinan and Anton Lindell. And then when you look at Seth Jones, how he has beefed up

01:29the blue line after they lost in the offseason, guys like Brandon Montour and Ekman Larson,

01:34you see Seth Jones kind of reaping the rewards of that trade going from Chicago,

01:40a bottom feeder to one of the best teams in the league in the Panthers.

01:45Pete, we take a look too, because we understand this is a rematch from last year. But the interesting

01:49part is not for me, like Florida, you won last year, you spent all that energy,

01:53Stanley Cup championship. You take a look at Edmonton last year, getting to the final,

01:57getting down 0-3, forcing 3-3 into a game number seven and losing it. The expectations are you might

02:03have a little bit of a, man, we just can't wait to get back to the playoffs and play. But sometimes

02:06you get that fall off, which we see in the Super Bowls, the losers of the Super Bowl not having a

02:10great season the next year. Talk about Edmonton and being just headstrong in making it back into the

02:15NHL finals and what that means. Sure. So they've won in so many different ways. Like I said,

02:21comeback fashion early on, remember with the four straight come from behind wins against the LA

02:26Kings. After losing games one and two in LA, they really flipped the switch there. And then I think

02:32when you just look at the Oilers, you've seen a lot of adjustments over the course of the postseason.

02:37Ryan Nugent Hopkins has really exploded offensively. They've gotten a depth scoring.

02:41scoring Corey Perry, you know, like 40 years old or whatever he is,

02:47leads the NHL in high danger goals this postseason with six. I mean, total fountain of youth situation

02:53there. Connor Brown has chipped in. Evander Kane is a guy that missed the whole regular season because

02:59of injury. And he's been, you know, an impact player and I think has an even higher ceiling for

03:04the cup final if Edmonton is going to get over the hump. And then maybe my favorite X factor of all

03:09is Edmonton has done this mostly to this point, except for the final game of the Western Conference

03:14final without Matthias Ekholm, who I think is their most well-rounded defenseman. He came back in that

03:20game and now got a little rest here about almost a week's worth of rest, right? That's really important

03:26for a guy just working his way back from injury. They will rely on Matthias Ekholm, the veteran

03:31defenseman very heavily in this cup final matchup against the high danger goal scorers of the Panthers.