There’s very few better things in sports than getting to see a rematch in a championship game or series.

Especially when it’s the following year.

That’s the case this year in the NHL, as the defending champion Florida Panthers take on the Edmonton Oilers in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final.

If this year’s Stanley Cup is anything like last year’s, buckle up.

Down 3-0 in the series, the Oilers looked dead and would be eliminated the next time both teams took the ice for Game 4. That didn’t happen.

Instead, the Oilers miraculously rallied to win three straight games and force a Game 7, but came up just short in a 2-1 loss in Florida, giving the Panthers their first Stanley Cup trophy in their 31-year history.

What will happen in the second meeting? Can the Panthers join an exclusive club in winning back-to-back Cups? Or will the Oilers find success the second time around and win their sixth Stanley Cup in franchise history and first in 35 years?

Here are the betting odds, our preview, and prediction on who will win the Stanley Cup and who will take home the Conn Smythe trophy, the annual award given out for the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup playoffs:

2025 Stanley Cup Final: What are the betting lines ahead of Game 1?

Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Tuesday, June 3

Oilers: -125 (Bet $125 to win $100)

Panthers: +105 (Bet $100 to win $105)

In the rematch, it’s the Oilers who emerge as the slight favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

Despite winning both head-to-head regular season meetings, the Panthers are viewed as the underdogs.

This likely has to do with Edmonton holding home ice advantage given the Oilers had three more points (101) than Florida did (98) in the regular season.

This proved to be pivotal in last year’s Game 7 where the Panthers had home ice for the winner-take-all Game 7 and came out on top to win the Stanley Cup.

It also is likely due to the Oilers coming into the Stanley Cup Final winning four straight games and scoring six goals in two of the final three games against the Stars.

This will likely be the closest this line is in the beginning of the series until a potential Game 6 or 7 with the odds flipping depending who comes out on top in each contest.

Who are the betting favorites to win the Conn Smythe Trophy?

Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Tuesday, June 3

Connor McDavid (Oilers): +100

Sergei Bobrovsky (Panthers): +250

Aleksander Barkov (Panthers): 5/1 (+500)

Leon Draisaitl (Oilers): 7/1 (+700)

Matthew Tkachuk (Panthers): 25/1 (+2500)

Sam Bennett (Panthers): 30/1 (+3000)

Stuart Skinner (Oilers): 35/1 (+3500)

Brad Marchand (Panthers): 60/1 (+6000)

Carter Verhaeghe (Panthers): 66/1 (+6600)

Despite coming up short in Game 7 last year, McDavid still won the Conn Smythe trophy, the first time a player from the losing team has claimed the award since 2003, when goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere was the Conn Smythe winner for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who lost to the New Jersey Devils in seven games.

A year later, the Oilers’ superstar is the favorite at even money to win the Conn Smythe for a second consecutive year, which last happened in 2016 and 2017 when Penguins’ superstar Sidney Crosby won back-to-back postseasons when Pittsburgh took home two straight Stanley Cups.

Behind McDavid is Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who’s won 12 of 17 starts and owns a 2.11 goals against average (GAA) and .912 save percentage in these playoffs.

Oilers vs. Panthers: Who will win Stanley Cup rematch, Conn Smythe Trophy?

This will undoubtedly be one of the most highly anticipated Stanley Cup Finals in recent memory with a rematch front and center stage for the first time in 16 years.

The last occasion came in 2008-2009, when the Red Wings defeated the Penguins in six games in 2008 followed by the Penguins getting their revenge and beating Detroit in seven games in 2009.

So what happens this time around? Can the Oilers pull off what the Penguins did and come back from a demoralizing Game 7 defeat and beat Florida?

Whichever way this series goes, I expect it to be a dogfight similar to last year. As mentioned above, the Panthers nearly made history for all the reasons, by being one loss away from blowing the second ever 3-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final, with the only occasion coming in 1942 when the Toronto Maple Leafs came all the way back from three games down to beat the Red Wings in seven games.

I don’t see anyway that McDavid and the Oilers will get down 3-0 again and this time with home ice, as Edmonton ends Canada’s 32-year title drought by winning the Stanley Cup in six games over the Panthers, and doing so on the same ice surface that they lost Game 7 on last June at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.

Stanley Cup prediction: Oilers (-125) defeat Panthers six games (+425), Connor McDavid wins Conn Smythe trophy (+100)