Jim Rassol - USA TODAY Sports
NHL

What We Learned: Do the Florida Panthers have the matchup edge?

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was all about two matchups.

When you have home ice, they give you the benefit of last change. And while it's always a scramble when play has been live for a minute or two, that slight advantage allows you to pick and choose who certain lines face just enough that it actually does matter.

And as a general rule, it seems like Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice was trying to get one specific matchup and then another, more general one. First, even on the opening puck drop, it was obvious he would try to wrangle Connor McDavid by matching him up against Sasha Barkov, which didn't really go great for Florida. When McDavid was on the ice, the Oilers had a 13-9 shot advantage at 5-on-5. That's great news, and the way things have gone in this postseason, maybe the bes

Access this article with EP Premium

Go Premium to access this article

Register your Premium-membership at eliteprospects.com to get access to this article and more quality, in-depth coverage at EP Rinkside

This article is about:
NHL Edmonton Oilers Florida Panthers NHL Aleksander Barkov Cody Ceci Connor McDavid Kris Knoblauch Paul Maurice
Scoring Leaders