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2025 Stanley Cup Final: Oilers vs. Panthers Rematch & Top Betting Picks
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The 2025 Stanley Cup Final is set, and it's a rematch. The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers will battle for the title for a second consecutive season. The Panthers are in the Final for the third straight year, too.
The Oilers slipped into a 0-3 series hole last season before rising up and forcing a decisive Game 7 in South Florida. The Panthers eventually hung on for the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup championship, but it ended up being an epic and memorable series after not starting out that way.
In addition, we saw the rare Conn Smythe winner from the losing team. Connor McDavid stormed through the postseason with eight goals, 42 points and a plus-12 rating, including two goals and 17 total points on the power play. He edged Sergei Bobrovsky for the award, as the winning goalie finished the postseason 16-8-0 with a 2.33 GAA and .906 SV% with two shutouts.
The last time we saw the same two teams battling for the Stanley Cup in consecutive seasons was 1983-84, when the Oilers and New York Islanders battled.
Oddly enough, as a kid, I had a physical education teacher in elementary school who was an annoying Islanders fan. All he did was repeat the term "One for the thumb! One for the thumb!". I lived in South Florida at the time, and we didn't have a hockey team then. His attitude made me an Oilers fan in 1984, going through that spring. It was a good time to get on board during the final Wayne Gretzky years. It only lasted until 1988, when I was stunned by the Gretzky trade, and I then became a fan of the team with the worst playoff luck ever. We'll just leave it at that.
Let's get started with this season's Final and picks.
CONN SMYTHE WINNER - CONNOR MCDAVID (+100)
At even-money, it isn't the best value on the board. Betting the chalk never is a great value, but it's a safe play.
McDavid has six goals and 26 points with a plus-10 rating heading into the Stanley Cup Final, and he is looking to become the first back-to-back winner of the award since Sidney Crosby took home the hardware in both 2016 and 2017.
This time, I expect McDavid and the Oilers to skate away with the Cup, too. The NHL hasn't had a Canadian champion since 1993, when the Montreal Canadiens topped Gretzky and the Kings.
The Panthers have been a machine, so it won't be easy. But it's hard to top a team in the Stanley Cup Final in two straight seasons. The last time that occurred was when Scotty Bowman led his Montreal Canadiens to two straight Stanley Cup victories over Don Cherry's Boston Bruins in 1977 and 1978.
CONN SMYTHE WINNER - LONG-SHOT - STUART SKINNER (+4900)
If you have $5 lying around, you could turn it into $245 if Skinner stands on his head in this Stanley Cup Final against the Panthers.
Things got so bad in the first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings that Skinner lost his starting job. Head coach Kris Knoblauch changed gears, started Calvin Pickard, and he rattled off six straight victories before suffering a lower-body injury in Game 2 against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Skinner took the reins and lost his first start back in excruciating fashion. Vegas' Reilly Smith scored the winner with 0.4 seconds left in Edmonton. That gut-wrenching goal seemed to flip the switch in Skinner, who has been a brand-new goalie since.
Skinner blanked VGK in back-to-back starts to knock them out of the playoffs. Skinner allowed five goals in Game 1 in Dallas in the Western Conference Finals, but he allowed five goals on 105 shots in the final four games to get the job done there, too. He is now 6-4-0 with a 2.53 GAA and .904 save percentage with three shutouts. If he can help the Oilers unalive the Panthers in six or fewer games, with McDavid and other offensive weapons posting just marginal numbers, you never know.
EDMONTON/FLORIDA - GAME 1 & SERIES PARLAY (+150)
This might be my favorite play on the board. I feel the biggest difference in this series might be the fact that the Oilers have home-ice advantage, whereas last season they did not.
The series begins Wednesday at Rogers Place, which will be an extremely loud building. Canada is dying for a championship, and the fans know what is at stake. Opening at home, rather than on the road, will be huge for the Oilers.
Edmonton is 6-1 at home in the playoffs, with that lone loss coming in Game 3 against Vegas with that late, late Smith game-winning tally.
Since I strongly feel the Oilers are going to raise the chalice, and I like the fact they're starting at home, backing the Oilers in a parlay to win both Game 1, as well as the series is a solid play at plus-money. Here are the other ways and odds, for your perusal, courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. The first team listed below is for the Game 1 winner, and the second time they're listed is for the series winner.
- Oilers/Oilers (+150)
- Panthers/Oilers (+430)
- Panthers/Panthers (+210)
- Oilers/Panthers (+380)
Don't make any bets on your favorite sports betting apps without first consulting the latest NHL odds.
EDM/FLA SERIES 20+ SAVES EVERY GAME - SERGEI BOBROVSKY (+240)
Win or lose, Bobrovsky is going to face a lot of rubber in this series. And, there is very little chance, barring an injury, that he doesn't go wire-to-wire against the Oilers.
If you like Bobrovsky to make at least 20 saves in every game that this series goes on, you can more than double up. While the Panthers do a good job of gumming up the neutral zone and knocking the opponent off kilter, facing all-world players like McDavid and Leon Draisaitl is a completely different animal. They'll get loose into the zone, they'll create, and they'll open up ice for their teammates, allowing for shots from the point, especially on their deadly power play.
Bob is a workhorse and a dog. He has been there, going to the Stanley Cup Final three years in a row. He has seen it all, and he won't be fazed. Making 20 or more saves in every game should be a given. The Panthers allowed 26.2 shots on goal during the regular season, which was sixth-best in the regular season, but the penalty kill was just so-so at 80.7 percent, or 11th. That's where Edmonton should log a ton of shots in this series, assuming Florida goes to the box somewhat frequently. Either way, though, regular-season stats can be tossed out the window with McDavid and Draisaitl, as they are just on another plane.
