2024 Stanley Cup Finals preview

The 2024 NHL Playoffs have reached the Stanley Cup Finals following opening round action and Round 2 play with the conference finals producing a pair of series wins in 6-games by the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers. Both teams trailed their conference finals series 2-1 before winning the final three games and advancing to the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals. 

Top online sportsbook Bookmaker has made the Panthers a -140 favorite over the Oilers (+125) to win the series and this year's Stanley Cup. Recall the Panthers made it to the 2023 Stanley Cup finals before losing to the Stanley Cup champions Vegas Golden Knights. I attended and covered the Stanley Cup Playoffs for Forbes while attending last year's playoffs and again this year in Las Vegas from rinkside to press row. The Panthers are the first team to return to the Stanley Cup Final the following season since the Pittsburgh Penguins (2009), who went on to win the Stanley Cup. 

Florida has home ice advantage for Game 1 on Sat., June 8. The Panthers are a -138 favorite with the Oilers (+122) and O/U total goals is 5.5. Eight of the Panthers last nine playoff games during this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs have gone under the total goals. That followed six straight Panthers playoff games that went over the total in the series' vs. Tampa Bay and Boston. I bet the Over EDM-FLA in Game 1, and will consider the Over in each contest through Game 4, especially back in Edmonton for Games 3 and 4. See my series bet and Stanley Cup winner below. 

Florida Panthers vs. Edmonton Oilers

The favorites have now won 12 of 14 series during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs with only the Rangers winning as underdog in the second round and the Oilers taking down the Stars as a small underdog in the Western Conference Finals. Now the leading online sportsbooks have made the Florida Panthers a favorite over the Edmonton Oilers. 

Stats and a Tactical Preview of Oilers vs. Panthers

Bookmaker Sportsbook also has a number of Stanley Cup prop bets for the series and hockey head-to-head matchups for most points in the series. Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, which is awared to the Most Valuable Player during the entire NHL postseason instead of just the championship game or series. 

Conn Smythe Trophy Winner 🚨🚨🚨#NHL #StanleyCup

Connor McDavid +185
Sergei Bobrosky +320
Aleksander Barkov +400
Leon Draisaitl +1000
All Players below ⤵️

Bet Here ➡️https://t.co/PNaZSzro96 pic.twitter.com/fi67qHbfWF

— Official Bookmaker (@bookmaker_eu) June 6, 2024

The Florida Panthers have won more playoff games in the past three years than they did over their first 27 seasons as a National Hockey League franchise. The person placed in charge of making changes and turning around the franchise's fortunes is Bill Zito (Video, interview), who was hired as Florida's general manager in the fall of 2020. Read more about the Panthers going from dysfunction and irrelevance to consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. 

The Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the 1980's led by the great Wayne Gretzky was a memorable time in my life growing up playing hockey through high school and college. The Oilers made one of the biggest moves of the 2024 season when they fired their head coach and assistant in November following a 3-9-1 start and replaced them with head coach Kris Knoblauch and Oilers legendary defenseman and assistant coach Paul Coffee. Oilers fans have waited nearly a decade to see their team and offensive stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. 

"You can't play a one-on-one game with them. They're just too fast, too strong, too skilled," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said this week. Maurice also said this in 2016 when he was coach of the Winnipeg Jets. "Everyone has a game plan for this Connor McDavid. It's not working. It's not going to work for the rest of his career."

NHL Futures and Stanley Cup Pick

I bet two NHL futures with the Edmonton Oilers +380 to win the Western Conference ahead of the 2024 NHL Playoffs, and a smaller piece of the Dallas Stars at +1400 to win the West when they trailed the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 in a series that went 7 games and the Stars prevailing over the defending Stanley Cup champions Golden Knights in one of the very best series of this year's playoffs.   

After reviewing more Panthers-Oilers stats and the detailed tactical preview of the series above, I too like the value on the underdog and for the Edmonton Oilers to win the series and hoist the Stanley Cup.

You can bet on it. 

FairwayJay is recognized as a leading sports betting analyst providing insights and information you can bet on here at OSGA. Follow him on X (Twitter) @FairwayJay for more sports betting news and insights.