\u201cLast preseason game, usually guys are taking it a little easier, getting ready for the season, play some soccer, have a coffee, get on the ice,\u201d A.J. Greer recalled Monday. \u201cThere were 22 guys working out \u2013 full workouts before the game. It\u2019s like we didn\u2019t even have a game. Guys were doing power lifting, guys were doing lower-body, upper-body, bike sprints before the game and I\u2019m thinking to myself, \u2018They\u2019re dialed in here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
And that was before the real hockey started. Now, more than 250 days later, the Panthers are one win away from repeating as champions, and the Stanley Cup will be in the building with their chance to extend its stay in Florida if they defeat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the final on home ice Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s business as usual,” top-line winger Sam Reinhart said. \u201cWe\u2019re obviously excited about the position we\u2019re in. You put all the work to be playing at this time of year, so we\u2019re excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also know what to expect this time around. Florida lost its first opportunity to close out Edmonton after going up 3-0 in the final last year, then let the next two slip away before finally getting the job done in Game 7.<\/p>\n
Everything was new then, from handling the butterflies and the logistics of families getting to town to thinking about the order of passing the big silver chalice around on the ice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a whole bunch of stuff you have to go through the first time and then there\u2019s all these superstitions \u2013 you don\u2019t want to talk about it, you want to talk about it \u2013 well, there are things you have to talk about,\u201d coach Paul Maurice said. \u201cAll of that stuff got dealt with last year when we went through it for the first time. Now, just get ready for the hockey game. It\u2019s a different set of emotions for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
This final has unfolded differently, with the teams being tied after two games and then again through four. The Panthers jumped all over the Oilers to win Game 5 in Edmonton on Saturday night to set the stage to clinch.<\/p>\n
That was utter domination, and, unlike last year, their first chance to hoist the Cup comes in front of home fans in Sunrise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just excited to be back home, and we\u2019re excited to hopefully keep that going after last game,\u201d winger Matthew Tkachuk said. \u201cWe think we\u2019ve played pretty good hockey over this whole series, in the whole playoffs, but especially the last few, so we know this is the type of game we have to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florida is looking to become just the third team to go back to back since the NHL’s salary cap era began in 2005, joining the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and \u201821 and the Pittsburgh Penguins in \u201916 and ’17. Just 18 have done it in league history.<\/p>\n
The Panthers are favored on BetMGM Sportsbook to take Game 6. After laying an egg and getting pushed to the brink of elimination, the Oilers are hoping to drag the series back to Edmonton for Game 7 on Friday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor whatever reason, our group doesn\u2019t like to make it easy on ourselves,\u201d Oilers captain and co-playoff leading scorer Connor McDavid said. \u201cWe\u2019ve put ourselves in another difficult spot, and it\u2019s our job to work our way out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only eight of the 44 teams to fall behind 3-2 in the final have gone on to win. Boston was the last to do it in 2011 against Vancouver, extending Canada’s Cup drought that goes back to 1993.<\/p>\n
The Panthers would love to make this the 31st consecutive season it is won by a team in the U.S. They have played a lot of games over the past three years and trips to the final, but the chance to lift the trophy is enough to push off that fatigue for at least one more game and two at most.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou play all year to try to win a Stanley Cup,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “It\u2019s in our grasp and, yeah, I\u2019m sure we\u2019re all going to be ready to go.<\/p>\n
Skinner or Pickard?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess who starts in goal for the Edmonton Oilers when they face elimination in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
Coach Kris Knoblauch did not say Monday whether it would be Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s who we feel can win us a game,\u201d Knoblauch said after practice. “That\u2019s how it\u2019s gone in other games, and we\u2019ll make that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skinner was Edmonton’s starting goaltender to begin the playoffs, lost the first two games and was replaced by Pickard, who went 6-0 before getting injured. Skinner also started the first four in the final, got pulled twice and for Pickard, who won Game 4 and lost Game 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cA strength of our team is that we can go with both guys,\u201d winger Connor Brown said. “They\u2019re up for the challenge. I mean, they\u2019re both absolute pros. Both have given this their best every time they come in there, and they both work hard, so we\u2019re in it as a group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins did not practice Monday, though Knoblauch expects the Oilers’ longest-tenured player to be in the lineup Tuesday night in Sunrise.<\/p>\n
That is a constant, even if Nugent-Hopkins is not 100% healthy, though there could be other changes coming. Either Jeff Skinner or Vasily Podkolzin may be ticketed for the press box as a healthy scratch up front, while John Klingberg is a candidate to return on defense.<\/p>\n
Status quo Panthers<\/p>\n
Florida will be making no such changes, barring something unforeseen, in the first chance to clinch back-to-back championships. The same 12 forwards and six defensemen who have been in place since A.J. Greer returned from injury in Game 3 figure to be in the lineup again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all health based,\u201d coach Paul Maurice said. \u201cWe\u2019re a pretty healthy team, fortunately, at this point, and we\u2019ve got good players.”<\/p>\n
That includes Matthew Tkachuk, who missed the remainder of the regular season after getting injured at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. After some ups and downs and uncertainty, he’s \u201cfeeling the best\u201d he has during this run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought there was maybe a 50% chance I wouldn\u2019t be playing as close to about a week or five days before the playoffs started,\u201d Tkachuk said. \u201cVery lucky and fortunate that I\u2019ve got great trainers and doctors, and they all somehow got me healthy enough to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florida Olympians<\/p>\n
The Panthers have five players already bound for the 2026 Olympics in Milan: Tkachuk for the U.S., Sam Reinhart for Canada, Aleksander Barkov for Finland, Nico Sturm for Germany and Uvis Balinskis for Latvia. The 12 teams participating unveiled their preliminary six-man rosters Monday.<\/p>\n
Sturm and Balinskis have not played in the final, but the Olympic announcements put them in the spotlight.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing an Olympian is something that not a lot of athletes can say about their careers,” Sturm said. \u201cIt\u2019s the best athletes in the world from every sport, and it\u2019s definitely something that I\u2019ve marked on my calendar, something that I want to achieve in my career. It\u2019d be a huge accomplish to be able to play there and, once your career\u2019s done, to say you participated in the Olympics, I think that\u2019s a huge accomplishment not to be understated.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDavid held in check<\/p>\n
It took until 13 minutes left in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final for Connor McDavid to score his first goal of the series, and it was after he and the Edmonton Oilers fell behind 3-0 to the Florida Panthers, on the way to losing and getting pushed to the brink.<\/p>\n
Before that, he led all scorers with six assists, and only teammate Leon Draisaitl has more points than McDavid’s seven. Of course, the best hockey player in the world is in the spotlight no matter what he does, and he hasn’t been able to break out and put the Oilers on his back thanks in large part to Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov and the Panthers keying in on him defensively and slowing him down at all costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not really about me \u2013 it\u2019s about us,” McDavid said Monday when asked about his play in the series. \u201cI think everybody has another level, myself included.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Kris Knoblauch thinks it has been a bit of an unfortunate final for McDavid given the amount of scoring chances that just haven’t gone in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Connor’s been one of our best players every single night, and that\u2019s what we expect,\u201d Knoblauch said Sunday. \u201cI\u2019ve got no issues with his game. Obviously, our team relies heavily on him and Leon and how they\u2019re playing, but I think that it\u2019s tight checking for everyone and it\u2019s not going to be a midseason game against a non-playoff team when sometimes he\u2019s had 10 or 12 scoring chances. Those numbers are obviously reduced playing against a good team like Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Panthers have defended McDavid and Draisaitl \u201creasonably well,” according to coach Paul Maurice, who acknowledged two of the NHL’s most talented forwards are bound to get their opportunities.<\/p>\n
Barkov’s line, with Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart, has been tasked with playing against McDavid, perhaps to the detriment of offense. That’s the job, so Reinhart was noticeably upset to give up that late goal Saturday night.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m upset every time they get a goal,” Reinhart told reporters in Edmonton. “It\u2019s a team effort defending guys like that. We\u2019ve known all series the challenge is there for us. No one really cares in our locker room who\u2019s producing each night. It\u2019s just a matter that someone is at the right times. And that\u2019s what we\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDavid led all scorers through three rounds playing with Zach Hyman on his right wing. Hyman’s right wrist was dislocated, with ligaments torn, on a hit late in the Western Conference final, and left winger Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was bothered by an undisclosed injury during a stretch against Florida.<\/p>\n
Loading up by putting McDavid and Draisaitl on the ice together \u2013 the so-called nuclear option \u2013 has not been used as often because Hyman isn’t around.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the absence of Zach Hyman, it makes it more difficult putting those two together because of the depth of our lineup,\u201d Knoblauch said. \u201cWith what we have right now, to run those two together for long periods of time makes it more difficult for our depth on our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
That puts even more pressure on McDavid in Game 6 on Tuesday night to keep the series going, as the Panthers again focus on preventing him from doing anything of the sort.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an unbelievable player,” Barkov said. “He\u2019s probably the best player of our generation. You have to be aware of him every single time he\u2019s on the ice and you have to try to take the space away from him as much as possible and stuff like that. But at the same time, you just concentrate your own game, your own team game, and play that as well as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senators sign defenseman Thomson<\/p>\n
The Ottawa Senators have signed defenseman Lassi Thomson to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2025-26 season, the team announced Sunday.<\/p>\n
The deal carries an average annual value of $775,000 in the NHL and $300,000 in the American Hockey League.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old spent the 2024-25 season with Malmo in the Swedish Hockey League where he compiled 17 goals and 29 points in 50 games.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot, 192-pound Thomson has appeared in 18 NHL games \u2013 16 in 2021-22 and two in 2022-23 \u2013 with the Senators.<\/p>\n
Thomson was claimed off waivers by the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 1, 2023, then reclaimed by Ottawa off waivers on Oct. 9, 2023. He has appeared in 202 games with the Belleville Senators, scoring 24 goals and 93 points for Ottawa\u2019s AHL affiliate.<\/p>\n
Thomson was Ottawa\u2019s first-round selection (19th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n
Stanley Cup Finals<\/p>\n
(Panthers lead 3-2)<\/p>\n
Game 1: Edmonton 4-3 (OT)<\/p>\n
Game 2: Florida 5-4 (2OT)<\/p>\n
Game 3: Florida 6-1<\/p>\n
Game 4: Edmonton 5-4 (OT)<\/p>\n
Game 5: Florida 5-2<\/p>\n
Game 6: Tuesday at Florida, 8<\/p>\n
x-Game 7: Friday, June 20 at Edmonton, 8<\/p>\n
x-If necessary<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tdn-65x65.png\")
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