Stanley Cup Playoff Takeaways: Stanley Cup Finals

Photo by Nathan Denette from The Canadian Press

The season has come to a close, and it’s once again time to congratulate the Florida Panthers for winning back to back Stanley Cups.

Let’s discuss how we got there.

Panthers defeat Oilers 4-2

The Panthers built the foundation years ago.

Trading for Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk. Signing Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency.

It paid off two years ago with a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, and last year with a Stanley Cup victory.

This year, they got even more help, thanks to Seth Jones and Brad Marchand, two trade deadline pickups who scored crucial goals in the Cup Finals.

And it summarizes everything that Florida has been the past few seasons.

Not only their management, but their coaching and playing style.

They’re tough. They’re aggressive. They are relentless.

It’s how Paul Maurice wants his guys to play.

It showed by the Panthers outscoring the Oilers in the first period of this series 13-4.

They wouldn’t let the Oilers dictate the game.

As for the Oilers, this team was dragged on the backs of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and Zach Hyman.

There are other talented players, sure. I don’t want to minimize it simply to those four, but those four are clearly the most important.

And it showed when Zach Hyman’s injury meant he missed the entire Final series, and it was down to Draisaitl, Bouchard, and McDavid.

The trio was outstanding in games 1, 2, and 4, which lead to two Oilers overtime victories with Draisaitl scoring the game winning goals in both, and a double overtime loss.

The trio was nowhere to be seen in games 3, 5, and 6, and the Panthers simply blew their doors off in every single one.

And frankly, that’s what this series came down to.

The Panthers stars performed as expected all series long, even in defeat.

When the Oilers stars underperformed, the team capitulated.

It also has to be said that it falls on management, who refused to improve a dire goaltending situation, which almost sank them in round one against the Kings.

Connor McDavid spent post game stating the Oilers felt like they were “banging their heads against the wall” by doing the same things over and over again.

The Panthers have seized their moment.

The Oilers keep letting it get away.