The Florida Panthers will be playing for the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive season. This time, they're hoping for a better result than their five-game series loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. And considering the fact that they entered this year's postseason as the Atlantic Division champions, they're in a much better position to make their title dreams a reality. Which makes Panthers Stanley Cup Final bold predictions a hot commodity.
Florida is going up against the Edmonton Oilers, who now have the chance to bring home Canada's first Stanley Cup victory since the Montreal Canadiens accomplished the feat in 1993. Meanwhile, the Oilers haven't won the Cup since 1990, and are playing in their first Cup Final since their Cinderella-style run of 2006.
Both squads will be looking to etch their name in the history books. Without further ado, here are our Panthers Stanley Cup Final bold predictions.
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Panthers will win in six games
Sorry Edmonton and Canadian hockey fans, but you'll have to wait at least one more year to end the Cup drought. While the Oilers impressed by taking down both the upstart Vancouver Canucks and the Central Division champion Dallas Stars, the Panthers are a completely different animal.
Known for their stifling defense, the Panthers cruised past the Tampa Bay Lightning in Round 1, took down the Boston Bruins in Round 2, and eliminated the President's Trophy-winning New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final.
The Oilers boast some of the top talent in the NHL of being able to produce offensively, with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and 54-goal scorer Zach Hyman up front. But the Panthers have already seen their share of stacked offensive talent in the playoffs, starting with Tampa Bay's attack of Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Brayden Point, and David Pastrnak of the Bruins. Additionally, the Rangers are no slouches offensively with Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trochek, and Mika Zibanejad.
The Oilers may represent the toughest offensive attack that the Panthers have faced yet. But considering that they won three consecutive games in each of their previous three series, there's nothing to indicate that they've met their match.
Sergei Bobrovsky will win the Conn Smythe Trophy
Not long ago, the contract of Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky – which carries an AAV of $10 million – was viewed as one of the NHL's worst albatross deals. The Russian native wasn't replicating the magic that made him one of the game's top players at the position. However, that began to change during last year's postseason and carried over into the 2023-24 regular season.
The man affectionately known as “Bob” to fans and analysts turned back the clock, amassing an impressive record of 36-17-4 with a 2.37 goals-against-average (third best in the NHL) and six shutouts (tied for first overall). And his playoff stat line of 12-5 (8-4 in his last 12 games) with a 2.20 goals-against-average has played a key role in Florida's second straight trip to the Cup Final.
The impending matchup between the pipes of Bobrovsky going against Edmonton's Stuart Skinner isn't even in the same stratosphere on paper. While Skinner has enjoyed a handful of impressive performances so far in the playoffs, he's been streaky and was even replaced at one point by backup Calvin Pickard.
Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk will give Edmonton's stars fits
Unfortunately for the Oilers, they've yet to face a team in the postseason that is as effective at shutting down offensive talent as the Panthers have proven to be.
The Panthers have held their opponents to an average of only 24.5 shots per game, demonstrating a precise and effective shutdown of the other teams' key players. Meanwhile, the relentless forechecking by Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk has been a constant source of frustration for their rivals.
Not only this. but having advanced to the Cup Final last season and fallen short, they have additional motivation this time around considering they now know firsthand what it takes to be the last team standing, via Rob Darragh of NHL.com:
“We expected to be back here,” Tkachuk said. “Obviously, nothing’s guaranteed, but we were expecting this, the way we’ve been working, the way we’ve been dialed in and details. … We’re very proud to be here, we’re very happy, but the job’s not finished.”
In the words of Barkov, the Panthers are on a mission, and they won't rest until it's finished.
“I think last year we believed, but we were also happy to be there,” he said. “This year it’s kind of all business. We have one goal in mind and that’s it. We’re not going to be satisfied until we accomplish that.”
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