The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers will meet in the Stanley Cup Final again. After last year's seven-game masterpiece, the two teams have won their respective conferences again. Both teams have the experience necessary to win the title, but Florida believes they are prepared for one specific thing. Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe spoke about how loud the Oilers' crowd was and how prepared they are for that environment again.
“Going in there, it was one of the loudest buildings I've ever played in,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe told Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com. “So, it gets really loud in there when they're buzzing around in their own arena, so it's a really cool environment to play in, and yeah, we're just really excited. Being there, doing it, definitely gives us some experience.”
The Panthers lost Games 4 and 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton last year. Those wins were part of Edmonton's triumphant comeback from down 3-0 to forcing a Game 7. Once Florida got back home for Game 7, they were able to settle things down and take the series in a 2-1 win.
Article Continues BelowThis year, the Panthers do not have home-ice advantage. Verhaeghe and his squad will be thrown into a hostile environment in Game 1 in Edmonton. The Oilers and Panthers did not have home-ice advantage in any of the first three rounds. That should help Florida as well, as they are used to winning on the road this spring.
Although this is a Stanley Cup Final rematch, these teams are pretty different from last year. The Panthers added Seth Jones and Brad Marchand at the NHL Trade Deadline. And the Oilers just lost Zach Hyman to a season-ending surgery. Could that point to a Florida repeat? Or will Edmonton flip the script and win Canada's first Cup since 1993? Game 1 is on Wednesday night.