Connor McDavid has been a man on a mission. The Florida Panthers have been a team on a mission.
Their paths will collide when McDavid and the Oilers take on the Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday.
McDavid will play in his first Final after nine seasons in the NHL. Together with Leon Draisaitl, McDavid has been driving Edmonton in its run to its first Final since 2006 and quest to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1990. McDavid, the Oilers captain and a three-time winner of the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 31 points (five goals, 26 assists) in 18 games, including a goal and an assist in a 2-1 series-clinching victory against the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final on Sunday.
“There’s been lots of growing pains, for sure, lots of lessons, and obviously it feels great to be in this position,” McDavid said. “This was always part of the plan, and it feels good to be here today.”
Led by their captain Aleksander Barkov, the Panthers have been determined to get back to the Final and win their first championship since losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Final last season. Florida defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on Saturday to become the first Stanley Cup runner-up to return to the Final the following season since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 and second to do it since the Oilers in 1984.
Each of those teams won the Cup in its return trip to the Final.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a challenge,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “They have some pretty special players over there and definitely going to embrace it. I think any time you go against some of the best players in the world it’s always fun and challenging. … So, it’s going to be a good series, I think.”
The Oilers and Panthers each won three straight after trailing 2-1 in the conference finals, but they have otherwise followed different roads. After going 3-9-1 in its first 13 games and replacing coach Jay Woodcroft with Kris Knoblauch on Nov. 12, Edmonton was a League-best 46-18-5 over the remainder of the regular season.
Florida survived playing without forward Sam Bennett (lower body) for 12 of its first 13 and defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour (offseason shoulder surgeries) for its first 16 games to finish first in the Atlantic Division and has yet to face elimination in the playoffs. The Oilers, who are trying to be the first Canada-based team to win the Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, faced elimination twice after trailing the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in the second round before winning that series in seven games.
This will be the first playoff series between Florida and Edmonton. The Panthers won each of the regular-season games between them: 5-3 on Nov. 20 and 5-1 on Dec. 16.
“As far as the way the play it’s a different style than [the Stars],” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “Every series is different. They’re fast-paced, physical, have a good power play. We’ll obviously take some time here to have a look at their game. We only saw them twice and it was probably not our two best games that we played against them.”