The Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers will not play for the Stanley Cup for a third straight year.
The Oilers, who have lost in the Final to the Panthers the past two summers, still have a shot at winning it all this year.
The Panthers are all but done.
Three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final will be it for the Panthers.
At least for now.
The two teams meet again tonight in Edmonton with both teams closing out the season with different paths.
The Panthers are 13 points out of the playoffs with 15 games remaining. Not mathematically eliminated, just realistically eliminated.
Edmonton will finish the regular season without star Leon Draisaitl, but by playing in the hum-drum Pacific Division, the Oilers should be fine.
The Oilers go into tonight with 77 points — only eight more than the Panthers — but sit tied for first with the Anaheim Ducks.
Edmonton may just get a first-round home playoff series even through it has as many points as the Ottawa Senators do.
The Senators are on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff race, five points behind Detroit.
But, hey, that’s how things work.
The Oilers are playing pretty well with wins in two straight, points in the past three, and wins in four of six.
Edmonton should be a playoff team — Tuesday’s 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks helped solidify its Pacific standing — and they know how to turn it on when it counts.
The Panthers, meanwhile, are counting down the days until this season is done and they can get a full summer of rest for the first time since going out in the first round of the 2021 playoffs.
The Panthers have played more games over the past three seasons than any other team in NHL history and widespread injuries were too much to overcome in this one.
So, tonight will feel a little different when the Panthers skate onto the Edmonton ice than it has of late.
Sure, Matthew Tkachuk will be there. Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Aaron Ekblad, Gus Forsling, and Dmitry Kulikov should be as well. Just depends who is getting the night off.
We may even see Sergei Bobrovsky in net for his 801st game.
But will it have the same intensity as it did before?
No. And it would not have even at full strength. Nothing matches the intensity of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the Oilers will still be seeing red when the Panthers skate out in their road whites.
And, if the Panthers were going to show any fight in this four-game western road trip, one would think it comes tonight.
The Panthers have talked a lot about Edmonton over the years with some with the Oilers reportedly feeling Florida rubbed it in a little too much last summer.
What, playing Edmonton’s victory song Pink Pony Club every chance they got, including at their championship parade, was too much?
The Panthers have lost the first two games on this road trip by a combined 11-4 to Seattle and Vancouver. It has not been pretty since the team flew west on Sunday afternoon.
Perhaps playing the Oilers will be exactly what these Panthers need to break out of their malaise.
ON DECK: GAME No. 68
FLORIDA PANTHERS at EDMONTON OILERS
