5 Storylines To Watch For In The Oilers-Panthers 2024 Stanley Cup Final

After months of a gruelling regular season and two months of even more intense playoff hockey, only two teams are remaining in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Either the Edmonton Oilers or Florida Panthers will be Stanley Cup Champions in 2024. Both teams are immensely talented, which is obviously why they are both four wins away from being champions. They both have been two of the hottest teams in the NHL since the calendar turned to 2024, and both deserve to be here after conquering each of their respective conferences throughout the first three rounds of the postseason.

Before the puck drops on Saturday, June 8th, let's dive into five storylines that will define this series and will help decide who will hoist the Stanley Cup at the end of June.

Connor McDavid On The Doorstep Of Supplementing His Legacy:

With or without a Stanley Cup, Connor McDavid will be remembered as one of the greatest players in NHL history. He was perhaps the most touted prospect in the history of the game, and he has not only lived up to the hype, he has exceeded any expectations the hockey world has had for him since he entered the league as the first overall pick in 2015.

Now, after years of putting up numbers in the regular season that were followed by disappointing early playoff exits, McDavid and his Oilers are four wins away from finally winning the Stanley Cup, and if he can be the one who hoists the cup, it would likely be the most emotional Cup raise since Alex Ovechkin in 2018 which would validate his greatness where he would now be viewed as a "made-man" in hockey circles.

If the Oilers can win this series, McDavid instantly catapults himself to a new tier with legends such as; Gretzky, Howe, Lemieux, and others icons of where he will rank all-time when he hangs up his skates, but even with that in mind, what could be the greatest achievement in McDavid's legacy is if he can be the one who leads a championship-winning team that would end Canada's long 31-year cup drought by bringing Lord Stanley back North of the border. McDavid instantly becomes not only a hockey icon but a Canadian legend if Edmonton wins the Stanley Cup in a couple of weeks.

Aleksander Barkov Faces His Toughest Challenge Yet:

The Selke trophy winner has been a defensive anchor his team this post-season. Throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, Barkov helped shut down superstars in the Panthers' three series victories that helped put them back into the Cup Final for the second consecutive year. Now, Barkov will get his toughest assignment not only this post-season but over the last two deep playoff runs when he takes on Connor McDavid, but depending on how Edmonton decides to roll their lines, Barkov may also be asked to help defend Leon Draistal.

If Florida wins the cup, it will likely be because Barkov helped contain or even shut down the Oilers superstars where he would likely take home the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoff MVP, an award that would more than deserved.

Which Stuart Skinner Will Show Up For Edmonton?

Few players this post-season have been more subject to scrutiny than Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner.

Skinner was good in round one against the Kings, but round two was a rollercoaster ride for the young netminder. Skinner was a part of the Oilers' collapse in game one against the Canucks where the team squandered a 4-1 lead where a couple of goals Skinner definitely should have had. Once the Oilers went down in the series 2-1, Edmonton went to Calvin Pickard for games four and five, but with the season on the line in game six of round two, Skinner was back in the crease, and he hasn't looked back since. Specifically, he was outstanding in game six of round three, where the Oilers clinched a berth in the Final, and he was the main cog in Edmonton's win making 32 saves.

Now, all the Oilers can ask is for Skinner to match that production as they look to secure four more victories this season to be crowned champions, but, as he has shown throughout his career thus far, that level of consistency is not something we should rely on, we can only hope for it for Edmonton's sake.

The Panthers Look To Avoid Joining Rare Company:

11 times in NHL history, a team has lost consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, which at first sounds like more than you possibly expected, but, to be fair, a majority of these happened when there were six to twelve teams in the league at the of these losses.

Teams To Lose 2 Or More Straight Stanley Cup Final Series:

1935-1936 Toronto

1938-1940 Toronto

1941-1942 Detroit

1948-1949 Detroit

1951-1952 Montreal

1954-1955 Montreal

1957-1958 Boston

1959-1960 Toronto

1963-1964 Detroit

1968-1970 St. Louis 

1977-1978 Boston

The Panthers have already defied the odds by reaching the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back years in general which is impressive in the salary cap era in its own right. However, if they cannot come out on top in this series, this Panthers team may be remembered for the wrong reasons if they finish second on the podium for the second straight post-season.

Can Florida Solve Edmonton's Elite Special Teams?

The reason the Edmonton Oilers are here is because of their special teams this post-season, powerplay and penalty kill. Edmonton puts the puck behind the net consistently when they are on the man advantage while keeping out of their net when they have a man in the box.

If Florida is going to win this series, it is going to because they were able to shut down the Oilers top of the league powerplay and also being able to solve Edmonton's PK who has only seen one team score against them on the man advantage this post-season (Canucks in round two).

The Panthers have the talent on both sides of their special teams units to make Edmonton work to score goals, and keep out of their own net. Whoever wins the Stanley Cup this season, we will likely look back on this series as the team who won the special teams battle between the Oilers and Panthers.