Who doesn’t love a sequel?
The Panthers learned their opponent for their third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night. Florida, which punched its ticket with a Game 5 win over Carolina on Wednesday, will face the Edmonton Oilers, who clinched the Western Conference final with a win over Dallas on Thursday.
The Final is a rematch of last year’s championship round, which went seven games before the Panthers won their first-ever Stanley Cup. The first game will be on June 4 in Edmonton. Games 3 and 4 and a potential Game 6 would be in Sunrise.
The Oilers feature many of the same stars from their run to the Stanley Cup Final last year. Superstar Connor McDavid was fourth in the league with 74 assists and notched 100 points during the regular season.
McDavid teams with prolific scorer Leon Draisaitl, who led the NHL with 52 regular-season goals and was third in the league with 106 points.
Edmonton features two of the best defensemen in the NHL, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm. Bouchard had 14 goals and 53 assists during the regular season; his 67 points ranked fifth among defensemen. Ekholm has been out with an undisclosed injury for over a month but returned for Game 5 against Dallas on Thursday.
The Oilers will start goalie Stuart Skinner, who has had an up-and-down run in this postseason. The 26-year-old started the first two games of the first round against the Kings, but after surrendering 11 goals in those games, Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch benched Skinner in favor of veteran backup Calvin Pickard.
But Pickard suffered an injury two games into the Oilers’ second-round series against Vegas, and Skinner was thrust back into the starting role. Since Game 3 of the second round, Skinner has a 5-2 record with a 1.57 goals against average and a .941 save percentage entering Thursday’s game.
Here is the full Stanley Cup Final schedule. All games are at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on TNT.
Wednesday, June 4: Game 1, Panthers at Oilers
Friday, June 6: Game 2, Panthers at Oilers
Monday, June 9: Game 3, Oilers at Panthers
Thursday, June 12: Game 4, Oilers at Panthers
Saturday, June 14: Game 5, Panthers at Oilers (if needed)
Tuesday, June 17: Game 6, Oilers at Panthers (if needed)
Friday, June 20: Game 7, Panthers at Oilers (if needed)
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