Edmonton Oilers: Road to the Stanley Cup Final

It’s official, Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers have punched their ticket to the 2025 Stanley Cup Finals. This is their second-straight appearance, and they will be taking on the Florida Panthers for a complete rematch of the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals. This is truly going to be an elite matchup.

Edmonton Oilers regular season recap

The Oilers took a small step backwards in the regular season, finishing with a record of 101 points, claiming third place in the Pacific Division. A slow start at 2-9-1 was a major cause for this, which was expected after a 25-game playoff run. From that point on, the Oilers quickly changed the course of the season.

This was their lowest point total and lowest finish in the standings in the past four seasons. However, the playoffs are a different beast, and they have proven that they are absolutely dominating teams.

The big guns had incredible seasons, as usual, with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid hitting 100+ points. Not only that, but Draisaitl finished atop the NHL in goals with 52 for his first career Rocket Richard Trophy.

Both missed over 10 games due to injury this season, but the Oilers showed impressive depth throughout, which ran through the entire lineup. It is no shock this group has gone this far.

Edmonton Oilers playoffs run

Starting in Round One, they took on a familiar foe in the Los Angeles Kings, for their fourth-straight matchup in the first round.  Edmonton has been a thorn in Los Angeles’ side, as they have now beat them each and every time over these years. However, it was not a walk in the park.

The Kings, with home-ice advantage, stormed out to a 2-0 series lead, causing major drama and panic in Edmonton. However, this core group has been in these situations before and turned the corner quickly, winning the next four games in dominating fashion.

A major storyline that began in this series was goaltending. After the first two games and giving up 11 goals, starter Stuart Skinner lost his job to backup Calvin Pickard.

Pickard led the way through the rest of Round One, into Round Two against a powerful Vegas Golden Knights team who won the Pacific Division.

Surprisingly enough, Pickard and the Oilers made extremely light work of them, winning the series in five games while outscoring them 16-10.

The goaltending drama continued, as the hot hand Pickard, who was 6-0, went down with injury. It was time for Skinner to reclaim his throne, which he did, with two dominant shutouts in the series.

In another rematch from last season, the Western Conference Finals was between them and the Dallas Stars. This was expected to be a pure bloodbath of a series, but Edmonton’s amazing play continued.

It was a tough start to this series, after blowing a 3-1 lead and giving up five goals in the third period. This was a message to Edmonton that if they take their foot off the gas, they will be in trouble.

Message received, as Edmonton blew Dallas out of the water in four straight victories, outscoring them 17-4 in that timeframe. This Oilers team is truly something, based on the pure dominance we have seen.

Edmonton Oilers top playoff performers

As usual, McDavid and Draisaitl have been leading the way for Edmonton. In 16 games, McDavid has accumulated six goals and 26 points, with Draisaitl netting seven goals and 25 points.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Evander Kane, and Corey Perry have all been having very strong playoff runs as well within the forward group, posting 5+ goals and 10+ points. However, Hyman will not suit up for this series after a Game 4 injury against Dallas that will have him out.

On defense, Evan Bouchard leads the group with six goals and 17 points, and they now have elite defenseman Mattias Ekholm back after a long injury absence.

Skinner is now the guy in the crease with no questions, as his recent stretch of play has been incredible, which includes a 2.53 goals against average, and .904 save percentage.

McDavid is the current favorite to win the Conn-Smythe Trophy at (-110) odds, which would be his second-straight trophy. Next on the Oilers is Draisaitl at (+800).

It has been an all-familiar playoff run for these high-flying Oilers, although this time they would like to change the result. Can Edmonton secure the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1990? It is time to find out.

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.