Edmonton Oilers or Florida Panthers? Who oddsmakers are picking to win the Stanley Cup
After suffering a major heartbreak a year ago, the Edmonton Oilers will once again have a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup.
The Oilers punched their ticket to their second straight Stanley Cup Final thanks to a 6-3 win in Dallas Thursday night.
This sets the stage for what should be an incredible Cup Final, as it will be a rematch between the Oilers and Florida Panthers. Last year, the latter team took the series in Game 7, although oddsmakers seem to believe this year will play out differently.
FanDuel currently has the Oilers as slight favourites heading into this series at -114. The Panthers, meanwhile, sit at -106.
FanDuel
While having the higher odds to win it all is exciting for Oilers fans, it’s important to remember that FanDuel also had them as favourites last year. Heading into last year’s Stanley Cup Final, they had the Oilers at +104 and the Panthers at -125.
Meanwhile, FanDuel is also predicting Connor McDavid will take home the Conn Smythe Trophy for the second straight year at +110. Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has the second-best odds at +250, while Aleksander Barkov sits third at +430. The next Oilers player to come on the list is Leon Draisaitl, who sits at +850.
It’s taken the Oilers just 16 games to reach this year’s Stanley Cup Final, compared to 18 a year ago. The Panthers have played the exact same number of games (17) as they did before reaching the Final last year.
The anticipation surrounding this series is only going to pick up in the coming days, as these two teams will have a lengthy break before getting into action.
Game 1 of the Cup Final is set to take place on Wednesday, June 4, while Game 2 will get underway on Friday, June 6. This year, the series will begin at Rogers Place, as the Oilers finished the regular season with 101 points to the Panthers’ 98.
While there is still plenty of work to be done, the Oilers will once again have the opportunity to bring the Cup home to Canada for the first time since the Montreal Canadiens were able to do so in 1993.