The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers will battle in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. The series will have a ton of talent on display with the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draistal making their first appearance in the Cup Final with the Oilers. While Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov will look to help avenge the Panthers' defeat in the final round that the team suffered a year ago.
This series should be one of the more entertaining Finals series we have gotten in recent NHL history, and with that in mind, let's look into how our previous ten Cup Finals matchup with one another.
10. 2020: Tampa Bay Lightning Beat Dallas Stars 4-2
Because of the bubble environment, this final was forced to take place in due to COVID-19, it did lose a bit of lust or gravitas we are used to seeing with the Stanley Cup on the line, and to be fair, this series was a competitive matchup. However, my reasoning for putting this at ten is aside from Steven Stamkos scoring in the only game he played that post-season, I cannot remember a historical Stanley Cup Final moment that will stick with me with this series.
Overall, 2020 gave us a good series, but not one hockey fans will remember aside from where it took place.
9. 2021: Tampa Bay Lightning Beat Montreal Canadiens 4-1
One of the biggest David Vs Goliath matchups I can recall in recent sports history with a championship on the line. Unfortunately, for me and my Montreal Canadiens, the clock finally struck midnight on my favourite Habs playoff run of my lifetime when they took on the defending champs in 2021.
2020 was a better final in terms of competitiveness, but having a full barn in Tampa Bay, while also seeing the Cup Final return to Montreal for the first time since 1993 was the tie-breaker over the prior year. Having fans in the building truly does make a difference in a playoff environment.
8. 2014: Los Angeles Kings Beat New York Rangers 4-1
Gary Bettman's dream Stanley Cup Final unfortunately was a quick series. Although it was cool to see a New York vs Los Angeles matchup in the Cup Final, the series was not close whatsoever. Los Angeles captured their second Cup in three years with Alec Martinez's championship-winning goal in Game 5 overtime to put the Kings back on the throne of the NHL.
7. 2016: Pittsburgh Penguins Beat San Jose Sharks 4-2
Two franchises who at the time were so close to getting back to the Stanley Cup Final, and after years of frustrating playoff exits, were at last playing the best trophy in sports. Sidney Crosby and the Penguins finally got back to the mountaintop of the hockey world, while the Sharks proved that they could run through the West, where they were so close to capturing the team's first title.
6. 2023: Vegas Golden Knights Beat Florida Panthers 4-1
A year later, I still cannot believe we saw teams located in Nevada and Florida play for the Stanley Cup, imagine telling that to someone thirty-odd years ago. Nevertheless, I think the uniqueness of this matchup is what made it fun. Even if Vegas did end the series quickly, it was still fascinating TV to watch, and both arenas were loud cheering on their squads.
5. 2015: Chicago Blackhawks Beat Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2
We didn't know it at the time, but in 2015, we were watching the current dynasty with the Chicago Blackhawks taking on the team that over the coming years, would challenge for that dynastic title in the Tampa Bay Lightning, who went on to win Stanley Cups in 2020 & 2021, as well as appear in the Final in 2022. Chicago was able to capture their third championship in five years cementing themselves as one of the only modern-day dynasties of the twenty-first century in North American sports.
4. 2018: Washington Capitals Beat Vegas Golden Knights 4-1
Looking back, I do not think we have grasped how special the 2018 Stanley Cup Final was.
On one side, we had the greatest goal scorer in Alex Ovechkin, being four wins away from being able to silence all of his critics who said he and the Capitals could never win the big one. While with the Vegas Golden Knights, we were witnessing something extraordinary, being so close to capturing the Cup in the franchise's first title in their first year of existence.
At the end of the day, I believe all hockey fans were pleased with the result as we got to see potentially the greatest Stanley Cup lift in history when we saw an emotional Alex Ovechkin at last hoist the trophy that he had been chasing for years.
This was perhaps my favourite non-Habs moment in NHL history, I was that happy for the Great Eight.
3. 2022: Colorado Avalanche Beat Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2
Nobody was happier to watch the Tampa Bay Lightning than me in 2022. They broke my heart the year before by beating my Montreal Canadiens, and I did not want to be a part of a team's three-peat if Tampa could have finished the job against the Avs.
However, I must admit, I believe that over the last ten finals that we have gotten, this was the most skilled matchup we have gotten as we got to see players such as; Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Steven Stamkos, and Nikita Kucherov just to name a few of the studs who were involved in this series. There was truly so much talent on display in this matchup.
2. 2017: Pittsburgh Penguins Beat Nashville Predators 4-2
Remember "Bad Breathe Gate"?
PK Subban Vs Sidney Crosby was one of the more entertaining one-on-one matchups I can remember in hockey as it was Subban was on a mission to frustrate Crosby in this series, and Bridgestone Arena was buzzing in this series being as great as a finals environment that I can remember in recent NHL history. Sadly for Subban and the Preds, Nashville's offence just couldn't keep up with the dynamic Penguins forwards, who captured their second straight Stanley Cup in 2017.
2019: St. Louis Blues Beat Boston Bruins 4-3
The only Stanley Cup Final to go seven games in the last ten tries. The Blues and Bruins gave us a great series in a rematch of the series that took place in 1970 when Bobby Orr scored one the greatest goals in the history of the sport.
Unfortunately for Bruins fans (but happily for me), Boston felt the side of defeat in game seven of the Final after being victorious in that same situation in 2011. On the Blues side, St. Louis completed one of the great in-season turnarounds in sports history as the team who was in last place in the league on January 1st, 2019, ended the hockey season atop the league by hoisting Lord Stanley in June.
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