June 3, 2025 by Raghu Sharma

After making major changes off-season, becoming a more veteran team, going through injury adversity and not looking anything like Cup favourites all year long, the Edmonton Oilers are back in the Stanley Cup Finals in a rematch against the team that ended their run last year.

It feels fitting after Zack Hyman’s words following the heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers last spring in the Faceoff: Inside the NHL Amazon Prime series. “There is nothing that is going to make this feel better, no matter what we say, but I know we are going to be back. I know in my [expletive] heart.”

When the Oilers dropped the first two games of the 2025 playoffs to the Los Angeles Kings, all hope seemed lost as the lack of cohesion in the team showed in those games. Even though the Oilers erased a four-goal deficit in Game 1 of that series, it felt like the Oilers would once again be overly reliant on their two superstars in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl – a recipe we Oilers fans have seen fail time and time again.

However, everything changed in Game 3 back at Rogers Place with the pivotal challenge by the Kings’ Head Coach Jim Hiller in a 4-4 tie. That failed goaltender interference challenge gave the Oilers life in the series, which they then rolled into with Game 4.

It was a similar story in Game 4, as the Oilers were once again down 3-1 going into the third period and it took a bounce of Drew Doughty, and a failed clear off the wall by Quinton Byfield that led to both Evan Bouchard goals and the 3-3 tie leading to an overtime where the Oilers took over and ultimately won on a Draisaitl power-play goal to even up the series at 2-2. The Oilers have gone 12-2 in the playoffs since those two first-round losses to the Kings to advance to their second Final in as many years.

This is my first season as a season seat holder, and it has often felt like a struggle to watch this team not play convincing throughout the season and just kind of sulk into the playoffs. As we have come to learn, though, this in some sense was by design and circumstance.

The Oilers played on hockey’s biggest stage last spring, were two goals away from their dreams and lost. The psyche of going through exhibition games, an 82-game grind just to get back to the final 16 is a lot on the mind and the body. The demeanor of the team has been poised and what looked like a detriment in the regular season becoming the oldest team in the league has now become one of Edmonton’s biggest advantages in this run of the playoffs. A veteran team that does not succumb to the pressure the way a young team does, and no more is this certain than in the Oilers four losses in the 2025 playoffs.

They were in an early hole against the Kings, had a crushing loss to the Vegas Golden Knights with 0.4 seconds left on the clock, and dropped Game 1 to the Dallas Stars taking undisciplined penalties in the third period. Outside of that, the Oilers have remained poised even in games where they may be the second-best team and found a way to win it regardless.

There is something different about the club this year, and it permeates down to each player and comes from the calm demeanor that is present in the Head Coach Kris Knoblauch. It has even made me, one of the most exasperated Oilers fans you can meet, feel a sense of calm watching the games or knowing this team can come back.

I have had the privilege to attend Games 3 and 6 in the first round against the Kings, Game 4 against the Golden Knights and Game 4 against the Dallas Stars this spring. So far, the Oilers are undefeated when I have been in attendance, and I can speak to how electric Rogers Place has been for each of these games.

If you have never had the privilege of experiencing a playoff game at Rogers Place, there is truly no other arena that matches the atmosphere, and that’s a testament to the incredible fans in Edmonton. We are Loyal to the Oil and show up for them like no other fan base across North America.

From chants raining down for opposing goalies, we have found a way to unnerve each of our three opponents as the series progressed, ultimately, taking away their will by imposing ours. Now comes the biggest test of all, slaying the beast who silenced the Oilers a year ago. And there are some key differences however on both sides.

The Oilers and Panthers completely dominated and ran away with their conferences and have been the standard for the better part of the last four years in the NHL. The biggest difference this year will be the fact that this time, the Oilers have home-ice advantage, and that’s massive a difference, especially with long travel between Edmonton and Sunrise.

Additionally, the Oilers are rolling four lines consistently, have seven solid defencemen and two goalies that have won six games each (a rare feat in the salary cap era). McDavid can follow in the footsteps of legends like Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby, who each lost their first appearance in the Final, only to win it the next year.

I will be in attendance for Game 2 on Friday, where I hope to maintain my undefeated streak, and to finally, after being on this Earth for 34 years, watch my favorite team hoist the Cup for the first time in my life.