For the second consecutive season the Edmonton Oilers are in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Oilers quest to win their first National Hockey League championship since 1990, and Canada’s first Stanley Cup since Montreal did it in 1993, continues against the Florida Panthers as Game 1 will be played tomorrow at Rogers Place.
Edmonton’s Head Coach Chris Knoblauch addressed the media before the start of the best-of-seven series. Health-wise he admits they have had to play fewer games and have had longer breaks between series on their journey to the Stanley Cup Final this season. Knoblauch says “last year we never had that. It was a seven game series against Vancouver, it was tough. Dallas next, always felt like it took a much bigger toll on us. Right now are we one-hundred per cent healthy? No, not quite. Obviously, with (Zach) Hyman being out which will be a huge loss. We’re going to need guys stepping up for that, but overall I’d say we’re in a little bit better position physically.” Hyman, who is a 32-year-old left winger, suffered a season ending wrist injury in Game 4 of Edmonton’s Western Conference Final series win over the Dallas Stars.
Knoblauch adds, his team has a different mood this year. He says “probably the biggest change in the mood is just, we have been here before. We’ve done the press conferences, we’ve answered the question about what it is like to be in the Stanley Cup Final. We know what to expect. We’ve seen this team before. There’s a lot of familiar things about this so I think everyone; I don’t want to say a regular thing, but we are accustomed to it.”
While this is the second year in a row in the Stanley Cup Final for Edmonton, this is the third straight season in it for the Panthers. Florida lost in 5 games to Vegas in 2023, before defeating the Oilers in 7 games to win the Cup and the first NHL title in Panthers franchise history last season.
