Oilers braced for collision with Panthers in Stanley Cup Final

SUNRISE — The Edmonton Oilers landed in South Florida on Thursday after traveling 2,543 miles, knowing what awaits them in the Stanley Cup Final: a physical, deep Florida Panthers team.

After toppling the Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars in the playoffs, the Oilers now prepare for a Panthers team that tied for the second most regular season wins in the NHL.

Oilers center Connor McDavid, considered the best player in the NHL by many, has scored the most points this postseason (31) after amassing the third most in the league for the regular season (132). He knows he faces a challenge in Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, whom he considers a catalyst for the team’s physical nature.

“Obviously [Barkov] is as good as it gets defensively,” McDavid said Friday at Media Day at Amerant Bank Arena. “It’ll be a good challenge, and I’m excited about it.”

Starting Saturday, the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final are in Sunrise, and those two crucial showdowns will equal the number of times these teams met in the regular season.  Their last game was nearly six months ago, on Dec. 16.

So neither team has a lot of first-hand knowledge of its opponent.

Edmonton center Dylan Holloway said that could be a concern, but he also sees some aspects of the Panthers in the Oilers’ previous opponents.

“Florida’s a deep team just like Dallas was, but I think they’re gonna be a lot more physical like the Vancouver series was,” he said.

That could be the case, since the Panthers led the NHL in hits this year with 2,348. Vancouver was fourth with 2,185.

Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci believes Game 1 will serve as a chance for the two teams to feel each other out.

“It’s gonna be about who can get to their own game the fastest and put the other team on their heels,” Ceci said.

Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said the Oilers need to focus on their game and not get too caught up in Florida’s style of play.

“There’s little tweaks we can make to our game plan, but if we’re making too many changes, we’re not who we are and we aren’t the same team who got us here,” Knoblauch said.

The Oilers might have an edge in the form of Corey Perry. The right winger was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2021-23. He’s made 28 career appearances against Florida, racking up six goals and 14 assists. His first preseason start with Tampa Bay was in Sunrise.

“I’ve had some battles with these guys,” he said. “They play hard and they play physical, but it’s nothing that we don’t know. Everybody watches the playoffs, so everybody knows everybody by this point in time.”

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges for both teams this series will come outside of the rink. This series is the furthest distance two Stanley Cup Final opponents have been from each other in NHL history.

Many Oilers players, including McDavid, said the travel is something the team is ready for.

“We’re one of the most traveled teams in the league,” he said. “So it’s only fitting.”

Edmonton had the sixth most travel miles of any team this season with 48,048. Despite the team’s familiarity with long plane rides, Holloway admitted the travel could become a factor in a prolonged series.

“Obviously as the series goes on longer, there’ll be more travel, and that’ll wear on you,” Holloway said. “But Dallas was pretty long too. So yeah, we’re used to it.”