I don&#8217;t have to remind anybody reading this what happened the last time the Edmonton Oilers squared off against the Florida Panthers — we all lived it once, so there&#8217;s no need to re-visit the Stanley Cup Final result now. Even so, you&#8217;d have to think the result from that series adds a different layer of intrigue to Monday&#8217;s matchup.
1. With their 3-0 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday, the Panthers have now gone 146:01 without scoring a goal. They&#8217;ve been shut out in back-to-back games to kick off the western Canadian portion of their road trip, and I&#8217;m betting that this won&#8217;t happen a third time. If anything, I&#8217;d bet the Panthers will see the Oilers next up on their schedule and get fired up to play because they know our side will probably be buzzing about the chance to extend their winning streak against the defending champs.
After the loss to Calgary, head coach Paul Maurice preached patience with his group, not wanting them to get too down on themselves. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want them fighting [frustration] too hard,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/florida-panthers-calgary-flames-game-recap-december-14" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said Maurice.</a> &#8220;It&#8217;s not a bad thing to be frustrated between games. I don&#8217;t care about the offence. If they&#8217;re frustrated because they&#8217;re not scoring that has nothing to do with us winning hockey games or being a good team. Everybody goes through stretches. I&#8217;m not sitting here saying we should win every game.&#8221;
2. Despite what&#8217;s happened in their last two outings, the Florida Panthers have been scoring plenty of goals all season, and that&#8217;s my expectation heading into Monday&#8217;s contest. Through their 31 games, the Panthers have scored 108 goals — 11 more than the Oilers — and are getting them from throughout their lineup. Florida has seven players on their roster with seven or more goals compared to only three on our side, which will be a challenge for all of Edmonton&#8217;s line combos to match or shut down. The point here is that even though Sam Reinhart is only three goals behind Leon Draisaitl for the NHL lead, he&#8217;s not even close to being the only Panther to worry about.
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov did not play against the Flames because of illness, but he&#8217;s listed as probably to be back in the lineup for the first of two meetings against the Oilers.
3. One area the Oilers could take advantage of tonight is their ability to generate offence off the rush. Over these two shutout losses, the Panthers have been getting carved up on the rush, and Paul Maurice hasn&#8217;t been shy about what he thinks is the problem. “Our rush defence is AWOL,” Maurice said. “Our rush defense sucks. We have to get that fixed. We do that against Edmonton, and they’re going to put 15 on us.”
4. Looking at the special teams, the Oilers have come a long way since they started their season ice-cold on both the PP and PK. That said, they&#8217;ll have their hands full with Florida. Starting with the power play, the Oilers&#8217; 22.4% success rate has them sitting in 14th overall, while the Panthers&#8217; 26.0% is good for seventh. Needless to say, the boys would be wise to stay out of the box as much as possible.
At the other end of the rink, the Panthers&#8217; PK is humming along at 81.3%, rounding out the league&#8217;s top 10 and has proven quite effective for them through the first two months of the season. The Oilers, meanwhile, dug themselves a significant hole back in October when their penalty kill was basically a coin flip, but the results have gotten much better since then. Even so, the Oilers&#8217; 73.2% PK rate still ranks 26th overall despite being much more effective over the last few weeks.
5. With the three-point afternoon against Vegas on Saturday, Leon Draisaitl has 13 points (5G, 8A) in his last five games. That&#8217;s bananas. At the same time, Draisaitl has been so fantastic all season long that he&#8217;s put himself in a position where he leads the league in goals (22), even-strength goals (18), and game-winning goals (7). The guy is on a run right now that is 1000% unstoppable, and I&#8217;ll be putting a few shiny quarters down that he&#8217;ll be able to keep the train rolling tonight at Rogers Place.
6.  The Oilers lost both regular season games against the Panthers in 2023-24 and were outscored by a lopsided 10-4 margin. Even with Florida&#8217;s offensive struggles over the last two games, this is a dangerous hockey team, and the Oilers need to be mindful of their puck management. The Panthers will earn their chances, so our boys would be best served not to give them any freebies. That said, the Oilers are playing some fantastic hockey right now — they&#8217;re steamrolling some very good teams — and I&#8217;m very excited to see if they can keep the trend going. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, and we&#8217;ve got the defending Stanley Cup champs on deck.
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I don't have to remind anybody reading this what happened the last time the Edmonton Oilers squared off against the Florida Panthers — we all lived it once, so there's no need to re-visit the Stanley Cup Final result now. Even so, you'd have to think the result from that series adds a different layer of intrigue to Monday's matchup.

1. With their 3-0 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday, the Panthers have now gone 146:01 without scoring a goal. They've been shut out in back-to-back games to kick off the western Canadian portion of their road trip, and I'm betting that this won't happen a third time. If anything, I'd bet the Panthers will see the Oilers next up on their schedule and get fired up to play because they know our side will probably be buzzing about the chance to extend their winning streak against the defending champs.

After the loss to Calgary, head coach Paul Maurice preached patience with his group, not wanting them to get too down on themselves. "I don't want them fighting [frustration] too hard," <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/florida-panthers-calgary-flames-game-recap-december-14" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said Maurice.</a> "It's not a bad thing to be frustrated between games. I don't care about the offence. If they're frustrated because they're not scoring that has nothing to do with us winning hockey games or being a good team. Everybody goes through stretches. I'm not sitting here saying we should win every game."

2. Despite what's happened in their last two outings, the Florida Panthers have been scoring plenty of goals all season, and that's my expectation heading into Monday's contest. Through their 31 games, the Panthers have scored 108 goals — 11 more than the Oilers — and are getting them from throughout their lineup. Florida has seven players on their roster with seven or more goals compared to only three on our side, which will be a challenge for all of Edmonton's line combos to match or shut down. The point here is that even though Sam Reinhart is only three goals behind Leon Draisaitl for the NHL lead, he's not even close to being the only Panther to worry about.

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov did not play against the Flames because of illness, but he's listed as probably to be back in the lineup for the first of two meetings against the Oilers.

3. One area the Oilers could take advantage of tonight is their ability to generate offence off the rush. Over these two shutout losses, the Panthers have been getting carved up on the rush, and Paul Maurice hasn't been shy about what he thinks is the problem. “Our rush defence is AWOL,” Maurice said. “Our rush defense sucks. We have to get that fixed. We do that against Edmonton, and they’re going to put 15 on us.”

4. Looking at the special teams, the Oilers have come a long way since they started their season ice-cold on both the PP and PK. That said, they'll have their hands full with Florida. Starting with the power play, the Oilers' 22.4% success rate has them sitting in 14th overall, while the Panthers' 26.0% is good for seventh. Needless to say, the boys would be wise to stay out of the box as much as possible.

At the other end of the rink, the Panthers' PK is humming along at 81.3%, rounding out the league's top 10 and has proven quite effective for them through the first two months of the season. The Oilers, meanwhile, dug themselves a significant hole back in October when their penalty kill was basically a coin flip, but the results have gotten much better since then. Even so, the Oilers' 73.2% PK rate still ranks 26th overall despite being much more effective over the last few weeks.

5. With the three-point afternoon against Vegas on Saturday, Leon Draisaitl has 13 points (5G, 8A) in his last five games. That's bananas. At the same time, Draisaitl has been so fantastic all season long that he's put himself in a position where he leads the league in goals (22), even-strength goals (18), and game-winning goals (7). The guy is on a run right now that is 1000% unstoppable, and I'll be putting a few shiny quarters down that he'll be able to keep the train rolling tonight at Rogers Place.

6.  The Oilers lost both regular season games against the Panthers in 2023-24 and were outscored by a lopsided 10-4 margin. Even with Florida's offensive struggles over the last two games, this is a dangerous hockey team, and the Oilers need to be mindful of their puck management. The Panthers will earn their chances, so our boys would be best served not to give them any freebies. That said, the Oilers are playing some fantastic hockey right now — they're steamrolling some very good teams — and I'm very excited to see if they can keep the trend going. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, and we've got the defending Stanley Cup champs on deck.
<h2>PRESENTED BY GREAT CLIPS</h2>
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