2025 Stanley Cup Final
Florida Panthers Bring Stanley Cup Final Back Home to Sunrise
FORT LAUDERDALE — The Stanley Cup Final turns to Sunrise tonight when the Florida Panthers hit home ice for the first time in two weeks.
“It’s never bad being in your own bed, have a nice home cooked meal,’’ Sam Reinhart said. “I mean, once the puck drops, you might use the crowd a little bit, you might have that little extra energy.
“But at this time, it’s the two best teams that are left standing. Once that puck drops it’s going to be a real battle regardless.”
The Panthers have to hope things work out better tonight than the last time they played here.
Back on May 26, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Panthers 3-0 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final.
The party that everyone had scheduled to celebrate a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final was postponed a few days until the Panthers went to Carolina and won Game 5.
The Panthers have not exactly been tearing things up at home this postseason.
It has been well publicized how good Florida has been on the road in these playoffs, their 5-4 double-overtime win Friday in Edmonton bringing their record to 9-3.
At home?
The Panthers are 4-3 in Sunrise during the playoffs. They have scored 18 goals as have their opponents.
Florida is outscoring their opponents 56-29 on the road.
So, um, what gives?
It could simply be a matter of circumstance.
The Panthers have started every series thus far on the road and prior to the Cup Final, with the exception of Toronto in Round 2, came home with a 2-0 lead in the series.
Tampa Bay went 1-1 in Sunrise; Carolina as well.
Both the Lightning and Hurricanes really needed to beat the Panthers a lot more than the Panthers needed to beat them.
That could have something to do with it.
When the Panthers came home as the desperate team in the Toronto series, they pulled out an overtime win in Game 3, then won Game 4 thanks to a Sergei Bobrovsky shutout.
Up 3-2 in that series, the Panthers came home and the Leafs got a shutout of their own to force Game 7.
Edmonton may not be in the desperate situation that its predecessors have been, but make no mistake, the Oilers are hungry.
This is the arena, after all, that the Oilers suffered the Game 7 loss in last year’s Final — a loss that has hovered over them for coming up on a year.
It may not be coincidence that Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch has had his team practice at the arena both times they have been here since that Game 7.
When the Oilers were here in the regular season, they held their morning skate at the arena instead of the IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale, perhaps to just get over being back in that visitors’ locker room once again.
And, even though the Oilers are again staying on the beach, they practiced Sunday and will hold Monday’s morning skate in Sunrise.
Edmonton, like the Panthers, have been very good on the road this postseason.
After losing the first two games of the playoffs in Los Angeles, the Oilers have won six of their past seven road games.
“I think no matter how much time passes, it’ll always be on your mind,’’ Knoblauch said of losing in the Cup Final in Sunrise last June 26.
“You get that close, I don’t know. I think everyone’s focus is on this season. No matter what happens, I don’t think that changes or helps it or anything. We’re at a new stage of our season, on our path. We’re just focused on what we need to do right now.”
2025 STANLEY CUP FINAL
GAME 3
EDMONTON OILERS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS
Best-of-7 Series Tied 1-1
- When: Monday, 8 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- National TV: TNT/truTV
- National Streaming: Max
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys), SiriusXM
- Radio Streaming: SiriusXM, NHL App
- Series Schedule (all games at 8 p.m., TNT) — Game 1: @Edmonton 4, Florida 3 (OT); Game 2: Florida 5, @Edmonton 4 (2OT); Game 3: @Florida Monday; Game 4: @Florida, Thursday; Game 5: @Edmonton Saturday; Game 6*: @Florida, Tuesday June 17; Game 7*: @Edmonton, Friday June 20.
- How They Got Here: Edmonton d. Los Angeles (6), Vegas (5), Dallas (5); Florida d. Tampa Bay (5), Toronto (7), Carolina (5)
- Postseason History: Florida Won 2024 Stanley Cup Final 4-3
- Regular Season: Panthers won 2-0
- All-time Regular Season Series: Oilers lead 23-18-0, 3 ties
Hopefully the Cats don’t lay an egg at home again.
Panthers need to come out, work hard, and just let themselves go to tilt the ice toward Stuart Skinner from the opening drop. Really grab this opportunity to get the series lead.
They haven’t played their best hockey yet in these Finals — and I’m concerned this extra day off due to travel will cause that opening malaise we’ve all seen from time to time — yet confident they’ll find a way to win as glimpses of that zone where they dominate began to show in game two.
Go Cats.