Tkachuk said same thing to Oilers players in Stanley Cup handshake line
Edmonton Oilers fans are still reeling from last season’s Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Final, but they won’t be escaping that hurt anytime soon.
Apart from the upcoming Amazon NHL docu-series that is set to chronicle the series, the Florida Panthers recently released a “Championship film” on ESPN+ that revealed some behind-the-scenes coverage of the team’s Stanley Cup victory.
Among the things shown in that film was the handshake line between the Panthers and Oilers following Game 7. It was a crushing moment for the Oilers, who came so far but fell just short of the ultimate goal, and a triumphant one for Matthew Tkachuk, who finally got the best of Edmonton after years of playing with the Calgary Flames.
He could have been a bit of a jerk in the handshake line, but instead, he made sure to make a specific promise to each Oilers player.
“We’ll see you next year,” Tkachuk told Connor McDavid.
In another clip, he tells Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner, “We’ll see you in the finals next year.”
matthew tkachuk telling connor mcdavid and stuart skinner that they'll see them again in the final next year because "they were just too good" and skinner saying "sounds good to me bro" is soooooooooooooooooo good pic.twitter.com/tpCPQGjsSL
— stephanie ann (@_stephaniehoyt) October 1, 2024
The Oilers proved that they belonged to be in that series alongside the Panthers. Despite losing the first three games, Edmonton rallied back with three straight victories to push the series to a winner-take-all Game 7.
Florida would eventually take that game, but the score ended up being a razor-thin 2-1 victory for the Panthers. In the end, Connor McDavid and the Oilers were just a couple of goals short of ending Canada’s Stanley Cup drought.
As the two teams gear up for the new season, it’s not completely out of the question that both the Oilers and Panthers find themselves back in the Stanley Cup Final once again. Both organizations had fantastic offseasons and, if anything, are probably better than they were when they took to the ice for Game 7.
It will be quite a rematch if it were to happen, and one that Oilers fans hope to have a different ending.