The Edmonton playoff express continued to roll down the tracks unabated last night as the Oilers outclassed poor Dallas, 6-3. In the process setting up a Stanley Cup Final rematch the Panthers.
Should make for a terrific series and some exceptional hockey.
Both teams feature an optimal blend of the elements required to capture a Cup, including skill, size, speed and sand. Perhaps most of all, to a man an absolute willingness to get their fingernails dirty, IMHO part of what separated them from the rest of the playoff pack.
Indeed, both teams thrive on getting bodies and pucks to the net while denying their foes then same opportunities at the other end of the rink.
Whoever wins the war of attrition will likely hoist the Cup.
We’ll start at the top. Both teams feature outstanding coaches, soft-spoken but rock-steady Kris Knoblauch behind the Oilers’ bench and wise old fox Paul Maurice behind the other.
In comparing rosters, the Oilers appear to have an edge in super-nova talent with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and blue line tail-gunner Evan Bouchard, although Panthers counterparts Sasha Barkov, Sam Reinhart and Gustav Forsling are hardly slugs.
Thinking of the two teams as sandwiches, the Cats have more meat in the middle with Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe and Brad Marchand versus Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, resurgent Evander Kane and 40-year-old wonder Corey Perry. (A shame Zach Hyman is done following surgery.)
On defense, both finalists feature a nice blend of size, mobility, puck movement and defensive chops, with the edge in physicality going to the Panthers.
In terms of matchups? It’ll be fascinating to see how McDavid fares against Barkov, widely regarded as the best two-way forward in the game, or if the Panthers have an answer for the deadly Draisaitl.
Nobody’s been able to stop the Panthers’ third line of Marchand, Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, although the latter was injured in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final.
A couple of wild cards, ex-Pens Evan Rodrigues (Panthers) and Kasperi Kapanen (Oilers) could factor in before all is said and done. E-Rod has a penchant for coming through in the clutch. Remarkably, Kappy has reinvented himself as a physical, hard-to-play-against, bottom-sixer.
Another crucial element?
Goaltending.
Cup and Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky is a known quantity, cool, collected and proven under fire. Following a rocky start to the playoffs, Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner’s been on an incredible roll, including three shutouts over his past seven games.
Shades of Matt Murray.
Bottom line? Although the Oilers and McDavid in particular may have an edge in motivation—no small matter—I think Bobrovsky and superior depth give the Panthers the advantage.
I like Florida to repeat.
Redemption for Stan Bowman?
If the Oilers capture the Stanley Cup (and even if they don’t) it’s been a season of redemption for their general manager, Stan Bowman.
After building three Cup winners in Chicago over a six-season span, Bowman resigned as the Hawks’ GM in 2021 following an investigation into a sexual scandal involving one of the club’s coaches.
He was pretty much persona non grata until the Oilers took a chance and hired him to replace Ken Holland last summer.
Ironically, his dad, legendary Hall-of-Fame coach Scotty Bowman, also experienced a mid-career fall from grace, albeit for different reasons. After coaching the Canadiens to four consecutive Cups and five altogether in the 1970s, the elder Bowman stepped into management with the Sabres and presided over a gradual regression, leading to his resignation in 1987.
For several years, he too, was on the outside looking in until then-Pens GM Craig Patrick brought him to Pittsburgh to serve in the front office. After assuming the coaching reigns from cancer-stricken Bob Johnson the following season, Bowman guided the Pens to the ’92 Cup, in the process restoring his career and reputation.
Scotty went on to win three more Cups as coach of the Red Wings, another as a special consultant to the Wings and three more as the Hawks’ senior advisor. Including the ’91 Cup in Pittsburgh, he’s won an astounding 14 Cups!
The Dale Tallon Connection
In one of those strange oddities that occur in sports, both Stan Bowman and his counterpart Bill Zito share a connection to former Pens defenseman and NHL exec Dale Tallon.
Bowman served as assistant GM under Tallon in Chicago before replacing his mentor in 2009. Zito replaced—you guessed it—Tallon when he assumed the Panthers’ GM post in 2020.
It was Tallon who signed Bobrovsky to the then-shocking 7-year, $70 million deal back in 2019. A move widely panned at the time but now regarded as a stroke of genius.
