Edmonton Oilers vs Florida Panthers Stanley Cup Final Series Preview and Prediction!

hello hockey fans Austin here and this is it this is the final preview video before the Oilers and Panthers finally face off in the Stanley Cup finals tomorrow night at 6 p.m. mountain in today’s video I will be going over the Oilers and Panthers how they matched up against each other in the regular season how they match up against each other in the postseason going into the Cup finals and of course at the end I will be giving my series prediction just like I did with every other series involving the Oilers and uh if you missed yesterday’s video I went over the Oilers numbers a lot of their anal itics who they faced leading up to the Cup finals the day before I did that for the Florida Panthers I will leave a link in the description for both of those videos if you want to check those out and then come back to this one and uh yeah you can do that of course make sure you hit like on the video today it goes a long way in supporting the channel and if you’re not yet subscribed and you end up liking this video make sure you hit that sub button hit the little bell so you’re notified whenever I do go live or upload videos speaking of going live I will be live streaming every single game in the Stanley Cup Final and uh I cannot wait I’m so excited my heart rate is already getting jacked up I know it’s only Friday I know we only have 24 hours to go but uh man I can’t wait let’s jump into today’s video like I mentioned I’m going to be comparing these two teams how they stacked up in the regular season how they stacked up in the postseason and then giving my prediction so in the regular season the Florida Panthers they were 52 24 and 6 the Edmonton Oilers they were 49 27 and 6 in the regular season the Oilers did not match up very well against Florida at all they only played two games so very small sample size the Oilers only scored four goals against Florida and they gave up 10 goals against now if you know as an Oilers fan if you want to feel a little bit better about this just know that both of those games that came before January that came before the new year that came before the oers really went on their second half run to get to where they were in the standings uh at the end of the season second place in the Pacific Division uh so you know I think the Oilers they were still trying to figure things out with the new coaching staff maybe the new systems of course uh gold tending kind of failed mton as well in a couple in in both of those games I would say I know Calvin Pickard was in for one of them steuart Skinner didn’t have a good game in the other one uh there was also that Infamous play I think it was uh broberg the puck he like stepped on a stick that was broken and like fell backwards I think it was actually brobergs last or one of his last games before he was sent to the miners uh this game was in Florida I think this was back in November uh as broberg was reversing he stepped on a stick he fell down and then Florida ended up scoring on the four check the other way and I ended up making a really funny edit uh this was when the Oilers were just really struggling like and nothing was going right for this team especially defensively I created like a Benny Hill Music edit involving that specific play because it was just absurd uh but anyways uh so you know when we look at the overall stats this is for the regular season for both teams uh Florida in all situations expected goals four of 56.1 n% their power play was 23.5% in the regular season their penalty kill was 82.5% uh they scored 3.23 goals per game now they only gave up 2.41 goals per game that’s actually I think the best in the entire NHL it might be tied with the Winnipeg Jets uh I know Florida and Winnipeg were pretty much neck and- neck with the best you know defensive stats in terms of goals against per game uh Florida’s Cory 4 at five on five 55.7% and their shots four percentage 54.3 4% the Emon Oilers their expected goals four in all situations 56.7 1% uh Power Play 26.3% % penalty kill 79.5% obviously the penalty kill in the postseason for Emington has really improved compared to that regular season number uh but the oers peny kill started off really really poorly and since noblock took over he let Mark Stewart take over the uh penalty kill you know system and duties uh the Oilers penalty kill has been on an absolute role pretty much since January the Oilers they scored 3.56 goals per game very similar to their current playoff stats but we’ll go through that goals against per game 2.88 the Oilers have actually lowered the goals against per game in the season compared to the regular season so that’s a good sign uh Cory 4 55.8% and Shots 4 percentage 55.1 2% looking at these two teams on paper the Oilers they have the edge uh you know we’re just looking at the regular season stats here the Oilers had the edge and expected goals four Power Play Goals per game and shots four percentage however the shots four percentage a marginal difference uh goals four per game obviously Florida still scores almost 3.25 goals per game so they’re a very good offensive team now Florida they had the advantage and penalty kill goals against per game and Cory 4 percentage again Cory 4 pretty marginal difference there uh on paper if you were just to just look at the regular season stats and just look at these two teams on paper you’d go man that’s a pretty even matchup like these two teams only three wins separated them in the standings uh Florida had 52 wins the Oilers had 49 you know pretty even matchup right now let’s take a look at the playoff stats everything that you’re going to see on the screen here this is in the playoffs now Conor McDavid he’s the lead leading Point getter for Edmonton right now five goals 26 assists and a plus seven rating Matthew kchu he’s the leading Point getter for the Florida Panthers five goals 14 assists and a plus five rating looking on the Oilers side 12- six in the postseason expected goals four in all situations 54. 28% their power play is unbelievable right now it’s at 37.3% but even more unbelievable than their power play is this penalty kill Emon penalty kill in the playoffs 93.9% I’ve never seen anything like this in the playoff this might be one of if not the greatest runs of of a penalty kill in NHL history uh gold for per game 3.5 Z and goals against per game is down to 2.61 so the Oilers defensively they’ve really started to figure things out they’ve really started to figure out how to shut teams down of course that formula from game six against Dallas that is not the winning formula that’s not how we’re used to seeing mton Play mton is very good at shot surpression in the postseason uh they gave up just a little bit too much than I would be comfortable with especially up against the Florida p Panthers here speaking of Florida they are 12-5 in the playoffs uh expected goals four of 58.6% in all situations Florida pretty much dominates on in every area of the ice in any situation uh five on four five on five even strength that sort of thing uh Florida’s power play 23.3% pretty much the exact same as the regular season so their power play hasn’t really you know improved or gotten worse uh their penalty kill 88.2% that is actually better than their regular season power play or penalty kill sorry uh goals for per game 3 .24 which is right in line with what they were scoring in the regular season pretty much right on the money and goals against per game 2.29 which is actually a little bit better than uh the regular season stats so Florida their expected goals for and their goals against per game has improved and their penalty kills so Florida it’s like the hit the postseason and they’ve really you know what they excelled at in the in the regular season they’ve managed to build on that as well in the playoffs for the Oilers they have the edge in in the entire special teams Department here power play and penalty kill of course the Oilers also have the edge in overall offense the Oilers have their game Breakers they have McDavid they have dyle Heyman has 14 goals now the all-time playoff record for goals in a single postseason season is uh uh 19 Yari Curry scored 19 goals right now Zack kman is at 14 now I’d like to think if Zack kimman comes anywhere near that record let’s say he ends up finishing with 18 or 19 goals I would imagine mton probably comes out on top in this series uh the Florida Panthers they are similar to the Dallas Stars not in their their style of play but in that everyone on you know lines one through four they can chip in offensively they don’t have true game Breakers and they have some players that will focus more on the defensive side of the puck than than generating offense um but like you know Alexander barov or Sasha barov he’s someone that will be tasked with shutting down uh Conor McDavid or Leon ridle Matthew kachuck terrific player he hasn’t scored at the rate that you’re used to seeing from Matthew kachuck but he is a driving force for Florida’s offense and then they have terce senko who I think has been you know maybe not as dynamic as fans in Florida might have hoped that he’d be um you know we we’ve seen firsthand teras senko I I saw it when uh St Louis played Boston in 2019 saw how good teras senko was in that Series in the Cup finals uh we’ve seen Tera senko be a differen maker on offense if Florida’s depth can start to pick it up just a little bit here uh Florida obviously has a terrific chance to come out on top in this series this series to me is an absolute coin flip I’m not going to lie and I think the pundit I think the betting odds and all that stuff if you’re into the betting I’m personally not but I do look at all the odds all the time there isn’t really a clear favorite in this series most most Years you’ll come across a matchup and there’s usually a favorite there’s usually the one team that fans will look at whether you cheer for either of these teams or not fans will look at one specific team and be like you know what I think that team has the clear Advantage here that doesn’t mean they always come out on top that’s not how that usually works I think a lot of people thought the Boston Bruins probably had the advantage in 2019 against St Louis it didn’t matter uh obviously I think the the most recent example of a team that had a clear advantage and ended up just winning in five games was Tampa Bay over Montreal in 2021 sorry Habs fans I don’t mean to bring up poor or bad memories here but that was a situation where I think a lot of fans knew wow Montreal’s on just a Cinderella run probably you know not a type of team that you would expect to make the Cup finals based on what that roster was on paper Montreal obviously played very well in that postseason not taking anything away from them but that was a situation where Tampa you know on paper that’s a team that should have won and they did uh and then you look at 2023 last year you had Florida against Vegas I think most people even though Florida was on an absolute crazy run they took out the uh the Boston Bruins who had the best regular season of all time in NHL history they took out the Bruins in seven and then they won their next series against Toronto in five and then they swept the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final and then they they just ran out of gas in the Cup finals Vegas just absolutely wiped the floor with them I don’t expect that to happen this year Florida you know you talk about experience being battle tested now experience how important is it the mton Oilers they have one Cup champion on their team I believe and that is Cory Perry however when we look at this situation and you know you look at teams that have you know oh this team has more Cup champions or you know players that have been in a cup final over this team um all of these players throughout their entire careers they’ve play Championship Games whether it’s in junior whether it’s at the you know World Championships Olympics that sort of thing uh so when we talk about experience and pressure there’s always going to be pressure the Stanley Cup is always a little bit different than other you know Championship style games but these players have been through it um so you know te you know Florida has the edge here Florida has the edge if you want to talk about that experience in the Cup finals Florida has you know their chip on their shoulder is Revenge for last year revenge for being taken five by Vegas and for the mton Oilers it’s about Legacy uh Ryan Nan Hopkins longest serving oiler on the team right now this is his first Cup finals appearance he’s been through so much in M with the decade of Darkness he’s had nine different coaches in 12 years or whatever the stat is uh you have Conor McDavid his legacy uh Leon dyle his legacy you know McDavid and dyle they are going to be Hall of Famers and then the Florida Panthers of course Florida as a franchise they have not won the Stanley Cup they’ve been to the cup finals I believe three time two times was it 96 and then last year maybe it was only two times I can’t remember someone’s going to have to correct me I’m I should have had that ready to go uh but you know Florida you know they’ve they were there last year lots to prove um and this prediction this is the hardest prediction of the entire postseason in round one I predicted the Oilers in six over La they won in five in round two I predicted the Oilers in seven over Vancouver they won in seven in round three I predicted the Oilers in seven over over the Dallas Stars the Oilers ended up winning in six and in the Stanley Cup Final yes I I’m going to take the Homer pick sorry Panthers fans I am going Oilers in seven uh why seven games because I think hockey fans deserve a series to go all the way to game seven in the Stanley Cup finals and for the mton Oilers I would like to see some revenge for 2006 the Oilers of course we all know lost in game seven in Carolina after being down 3-1 in the series it was a valiant effort from that group if the Oilers can somehow find a way if they if they were to actually win in seven in Florida um it would erase just all the bad memories the nightmares the decade of Darkness there’s so much that has happened in oil country since 2006 that the fans have gone through that the players have gone through um it would just you know it would just be a clean slate it would just everything bad that’s ever happened would be wiped away and for the mton Oilers I’m taking them in seven but the Florida Panthers are obviously the toughest opponent mton has come across so far in the playoffs the Florida Panthers are such a good team this is a matchup that you know it’s a coin flip and you know what this is a series that could also go five games you know a lot of this can become momentum based too we saw that last year with Vegas against Florida now Florida last year against Vegas a lot of injuries Matthew kachuck had that broken Stern up he tried to play through it he couldn’t uh you know uh Florida just in general they ran out of steam ran out of gas had injuries as far as I’m aware they don’t have any major injuries right now the Oilers don’t have any major injuries other than a Vander Kane that sports hernia that he’s dealing with but he should be able to play this is just you know as a hockey fan this is best case scenario you have you have two of the best teams remaining in the NHL mostly with a full clean bill of health just going right at each other the Florida Panthers their keys to success will be uh suffocating the Oilers In Their Own Zone Florida’s for check is unbelievable they are like like I mentioned in uh their video a couple days ago they just constantly attack you and if you’re an Oilers defenseman if you’re not on your toes and not making plays that puck is going to be stuck in your own zone for half the game and you are going to be exhausted by game four or game five so for the mton Oilers biggest biggest key to success for mton make sure you steal at least one on those first two w Road games and at minimum win one of your own home games have this series tied at two after four if I’m the Mt Oilers that should be the goal but we’ll see how it all shakes out Oilers fans Panthers fans what do you think uh let me know all of your thoughts in the comment section below let me know your own prediction in the comments section below I’m excited to hear from all of you Panthers fans I’m excited to interact during the finals here uh all the other fan bases that mton has played leading up to this point they were all great Canucks fans were great Kings fans Stars fans uh I’m excited to interact with a lot of panthers fans now so I’m excited for this matchup I cannot wait uh to get this thing going it has been a long time coming for the Oilers and for the Florida Panthers obviously they were here last year but they’re not here often so Florida fans also incredibly excited I can’t wait let’s get this thing started let’s go Oilers

This is it hockey fans, the Stanley Cup Final is about to begin! Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers will be facing off against Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers tomorrow night in game 1 at 6PM MDT. In today’s video, I break down both teams’ regular season stats, how they match up against each other, and who I think will come out on top to win the greatest trophy in all of sports. Let me know YOUR predictions in the comment section below! #oilers #panthers #nhl

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ICYMI:
Oilers Road to the Cup Finals: https://youtu.be/71XocKR3FF4
Panthers Road to the Cup Finals: https://youtu.be/90NehSWA7t8

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