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What’s Going On In The Playoffs: Oilers and Panthers set for Stanley Cup Final rematch
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Photo credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
Jun 4, 2025, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 4, 2025, 15:05 EDT
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For the second consecutive season, the Edmonton Oilers will face the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.
This is What’s Going On In The Playoffs, where we look at how each series is going so far this post-season. Since last Wednesday, the Oilers and Panthers punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.
Let’s look at how they did, as well as set up the Stanley Cup Final.

Oilers beat the Stars in five

Last Wednesday, the Oilers had a 3-1 series lead over the Dallas Stars, with the series shifting to Texas for Game 5. The Oilers came to play, the Stars did not.
Two and a half minutes into the game, Corey Perry scored a power play goal to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. Seven minutes into the game, Mattias Janmark scored a breakaway goal, followed by Jeff Skinner’s first career post-season goal just 58 seconds later.
The Stars made it a tight game, though, as Jason Robertson scored midway through the first, and Roope Hintz got the Stars to within one midway through the second. Two minutes later, Connor McDavid scored a breakaway goal for the game-winner.
Early in the third period, the Stars once again cut the lead to one, but the momentum was stifled under three minutes later as Evander Kane scored his fifth of the post-season for the 5-3 lead. Kasperi Kapanen scored an empty-netter with 11 seconds left to send the Oilers to their second consecutive Stanley Cup Final.

A late goal propelled the Panthers over the Hurricanes

The Panthers also had a 3-1 lead, but they were easily able to dispel them in five games. In Game 4, the Carolina Hurricanes snapped a 15-game losing streak in the Eastern Conference Final that dated all the way back to 2009.
That was short-lived, as the Panthers punched their ticket to their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final. The thing is, the Hurricanes carried a 2-0 lead into the second period thanks to two goals from Sebastian Aho.
It was all the Panthers in the second period, as Matthew Tkachuk got them on the board, followed by goals from Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell. Seth Jarvis tied up the game eight and a half minutes into the third, but Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winning goal with 7:39 left.
Former Flame Sam Bennett iced the game with an empty-netter with 54 seconds left.

Setting up the Stanley Cup Final

For the second consecutive season, the Florida Panthers are Canada’s team. This is the 12th time two teams have faced in back-to-back Stanley Cup Final, with teams repeating seven of the 11 times.
That said, the team that lost the Stanley Cup the year before has won the Stanley Cup the last two times when there has been a repeat of the Stanley Cup Final: the Oilers in the 1984 Stanley Cup Final and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009. Ironically, both teams had a generational talent; the Oilers had Wayne Gretzky, and the Penguins had Sidney Crosby.
If you need a refresher from last season, the Panthers took a 3-0 series lead, just for the Oilers to storm back and force a Game 7 in Florida. Their momentum ended there, as the Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1 to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Hopefully, they can win their second Stanley Cup.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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