Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers will meet in the final of the next Stanley Cup. If successful, the Panthers will rewrite their club history, and at the same time make hockey Russia happy. The Oilers are one step away from lifting the curse from all of Canada. The main points of the decisive series of the NHL season are in the announcement Sports.
A unique ending The National Hockey League has always attracted spectators from all over the world not only for its top-class hockey, but also for its unpredictability and the belief that even the most fantastic scenarios are real. The confrontation between Florida and Edmonton has already become unique in the history of the NHL: both teams have never previously met each other in playoff matches. This will be the league's 67th Stanley Cup Final. It also set a league-wide record for the distance between cities where clubs play their home games. To fly from Sunrise to Edmonton (and, accordingly, vice versa), hockey players will have to travel 4,089 kilometers.
“Florida” will make the third attempt in its club history to become a champion. The previous two ended sadly: in 1996, the Panthers lost without a chance to the Colorado Avalanche (0-4), and last season, Paul Maurice's charges lost to yesterday's NHL debutants, the Vegas Golden Knights (1-4). “Edmonton” in this regard is much more experienced and successful than its rivals. The Oilers won the Stanley Cup five times and were finalists twice more. But there is one important nuance – the Oilers will play in the final for the first time in 18 years, and they celebrated their last triumph back in 1990.
Will the successful streak of the Russians last? The last four Stanley Cup finals, in any scenario of the series, guaranteed championship success for hockey players from Russia. In the new series, these chances were reduced to the standard “50 to 50”. Three Russians play for Florida: goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky, defender Dmitry Kulikov and forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who already won the coveted trophy with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. There are no Russian representatives in Edmonton.
Therefore, if the Oilers are successful, the long series of successes of the Russians may be interrupted: in 2016 and 2017, Evgeni Malkin won the Stanley Cup, in 2018, Alexander Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov became champions, in 2019 – Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev, in 2020 In 2018, Andrei Vasilevsky, Nikita Kucherova, Mikhail Sergachev and Alexander Volkov won the trophy, a year later Vasilevsky, Kucherov and Sergachev repeated this success, later Valery Nichushkin entered his name on the Stanley Cup, and last season Ivan Barbashev became a two-time winner of the trophy. Bobrovsky, Kulikov and Tarasenko are in line to extend this pleasant series for Russia. Maxim Ivanov, the Panthers coach based on the individual qualities of the team’s players, can also go down in history with them. Before Ivanov, among Russians only Vyacheslav Fetisov, Vladimir Bure and Sergei Gonchar became NHL champion title holders as a coach.
The Cup for Bobrovsky is a beautiful story. In this section, it is necessary to separately highlight the figure of Sergei Bobrovsky. The 35-year-old Russian goalkeeper built a rich and magnificent career, became one of the best hockey goalies in world history, won the Vezina Trophy twice (the only one among Russians), but still has not filled the niche in his regalia called “Stanley Cup winner.” . Last season, Bobrovsky was closer than ever to this achievement – the 2023 final, in principle, was the first in his career, and Florida reached the battle with the Vegas Knights precisely thanks to the excellent play of the Russian goalkeeper. But I couldn’t do it.
Now the picture is somewhat different. The Panthers have improved significantly compared to last year, and there is no clear favorite in the final series of this season. And Florida’s successes are no longer so clearly expressed by Bobrovsky’s confident and reliable play. However, Sergei’s role cannot be understated because of this – Bob is still great, and his saves played a huge role in the Panthers reaching the Stanley Cup final for the second year in a row. The next two years will be the last for the Russian under his current contract with Florida, and there are doubts that the team from Sunrise will remain at the same level. As well as the fact that Bobrovsky will receive at least somewhat similar offers to continue his career. Today's chance to become an NHL champion may be almost the last in the career of the legendary Russian.
Will the Curse of Canada Be Lifted? The trend of NHL expansion in the USA has long led to talk about the lack of success of hockey Canada. This question is quite controversial if you count the number of Canadian hockey players in the championship teams of the league. But one dry fact is still worth noting again – the Stanley Cup has not been won by a club from Canada for a long time.
The last success of the team from the Land of the Maple Leaf still dates back to 1993. More than 30 years ago, the Montreal Canadiens, the most titled club in the league, became NHL champions. Since then, Canadian teams have made six unsuccessful attempts to return to the top of the podium. It is not surprising that now almost all of Canada wants Edmonton to break such an unsuccessful streak.
McDavid will officially become great? The desire of Canadians to see the Oilers win the championship is connected not only with the mentioned curse. Canada also wants to see the Stanley Cup in the hands of the country's main hockey symbol, Connor McDavid.
Over the past few years, there has been heated debate in the hockey community about who truly is the best player in the world – McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon. However, it is the leader of Edmonton who has the status of almost a messiah in his home country. Modern hockey Canada is primarily associated with Connor.
By the age of 27, McDee has rewritten dozens (if not hundreds) of club and NHL records, year after year he amazes with his statistics, phenomenal technique and ability to make opponents whipping boys, and it was he who secured the title of Wayne Gretzky's main heir. By the end of his career, Connor is expected to come as close to The Greatest in points as anyone ever has. However, against the background of these successes, McDavid still has not achieved the main thing. There is still no Stanley Cup in his piggy bank. Moreover, this is the first time in his career that the Oilers captain will play in the finals. Perhaps Connor will only need one try to feel like Lionel Messi, when he finally became the world champion in football.
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