The 2025 Stanley Cup Final matchup is set, and it might look a little familiar. That’s because it will be a rematch of the 2024 Cup Final.
Six former Anaheim Ducks will take part in the second consecutive Florida Panthers-Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup Final, though only three of those players were involved in last season’s affair.
Adam Henrique and Corey Perry were on the losing side for the Oilers while Dmitry Kulikov marked his return to the team that drafted him by playing a crucial role in their run to their first ever Stanley Cup.
Oilers Have Big Opportunity In Cup Final RematchEDMONTON – They could smell the blood in the water.
Now, Max Jones and John Klingberg have joined Henrique and Perry on the Oilers’ end. Defenseman Jaycob Megna has done the same with Kulikov and the Panthers.
Perry, 40, scored goals in consecutive games to help the Oilers knock off the Dallas Stars in five games. Henrique put the finishing touches on Game 4’s victory and Klingberg has proven to be a dependable option on the blue line for head coach Kris Knoblauch since returning from an injury that kept him out for most of the regular season.
Most of Kulikov’s ice time in this year’s playoffs has come on his off-side, playing alongside fellow left-hander Nate Schmidt as the Panthers’ de-facto third pair. Head coach Paul Maurice has utilized all three of his pairs efficiently, creating matchups that he can use in any situation.
Jones and Megna have been on the outside looking in for their respective teams, acting as reserves. Neither of them have appeared in a single game this postseason and both are unlikely to barring catastrophic injury circumstances.
Regardless of the result, a former Duck will hoist Lord Stanley again. Last season, it was Kulikov, Anthony Stolarz, Brandon Montour and Josh Mahura who got the glory. Henrique and Perry will look to exact revenge after coming one game away from reaching the peak of the National Hockey League.
Featured image caption: May 29, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Edmonton Oilers right wing Corey Perry (90) reacts after scoring a goal against the Dallas Stars in game five of the Western Conference Final of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
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Peter DeBoer stuck the knife in his goalie's back. And then, the Dallas Stars head coach twisted it around for good measure.
How else to describe DeBoer's decision to not only yank Jake Oettinger seven minutes into a must-win game against the Edmonton Oilers — but then blame his goalie for once again coming up short in the Western Conference final.
Chances are this one is going to haunt DeBoer all summer long. And it could lead to him losing his job.
"Anytime you pull a goalie, the reasoning's always to try and spark your group," DeBoer said following a 6-3 loss to the Oilers in Game 5 on Thursday. "So that was the No. 1 reason.
"We had talked endlessly in this series about trying to play with the lead. And obviously, we were in a 2-0 hole right away. I didn't take that lightly and I didn't blame it all on Jake. But the reality is if you go back to last year's playoffs, he's lost six of seven games to Edmonton, and we gave up two shots on two goals in an elimination game.
"So it was partly to spark our team and wake them up. And it was partly knowing that status quo had not been working. That's a pretty big sample size."
Jake Oettinger is gonna win so many Stanley Cups for the Avalanche pic.twitter.com/JgTzh2EwAG
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) May 30, 2025
It's one thing to pull your goalie to try to spark your team. It's another to throw him under the bus when the move doesn't work.
And let's make one thing clear: this was not the right decision. Not by a long shot.
For one, Oettinger wasn't at fault for either of the goals he allowed. The first goal was scored on the power play, with Edmonton's Corey Perry connecting on a pass from Connor McDavid in front of the net. The second goal was scored on a breakaway.
Nobody was blaming Oettinger for allowing those goals. Certainly no one was thinking he would be pulled after facing just two shots. That included Oettinger, who started to skate back to his crease after DeBoer called a time out, only to have DeBoer call him back to the bench so that he could be replaced with backup goalie Casey DeSmith.
Not that DeSmith was any better.
Less than a minute after DeSmith came into the game, Edmonton scored again to take a 3-0 lead. DeSmith finished the game having allowed three goals on 20 shots. Again, the way the Oilers have been playing, it would not have mattered who was in net.
And yet, it does matter who was in net for the Stars.
Say what you want about Oettinger's play against the Oilers in the past two conference finals — he allowed 16 goals in six games against Edmonton last year and another 16 goals in five games this year — he is the Stars' No. 1 goalie. And after signing an eight-year contract extension worth $66-million in October, he will remain the Stars' No. 1 goalie for the foreseeable future.
The same cannot be said of DeBoer, whose post-game comments may have hinted that he knows he has coached his last game in Dallas.
Stars Suffer Nightmare Ending To Playoff Run With Questionable Game 5 Decision There are many nightmare scenarios in which things could go wrong for a team during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. A star player gets injured, a call does not go their way, but rarely is a team's star player taken out of the game in an act of desperation. Unfortunately, that was the case for the Dallas Stars in their do-or-die Game 5 on Thursday night. Pete DeBoer would make a move that would leave some fans scratching their heads, and others fuming.
Since being hired by the Stars, DeBoer has brought the team to the conference final in each of the past three years. After three straight losses, it might be time for someone else to try and get Dallas over the hump.
After all, this wasn't the first time DeBoer has made a controversial decision regarding a star goalie. Back in 2021, when he was coaching the Vegas Golden Knights, DeBoer decided to sit Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury in favor of Robin Lehner en route to the conference final. It was a decision that didn't sit well with Fleury, who was dealt to Chicago the following summer, or with Fleury's agent, who tweeted out a picture of his client with a sword sticking through his back, emblazoned with DeBoer's name on the blade.
quick, someone photoshop Oettinger into this https://t.co/04NkE1x8t1pic.twitter.com/RsaLfCuuXJ
— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) May 30, 2025
We'll have to see what the fallout looks like after this decision. But already, fans and teammates were quick to come to Oettinger's defense.
Oettinger may have had a rough series against the Oilers, but you could say the same thing about nearly everyone on the Stars' roster. Mikko Rantenen, who led the Stars in scoring with nine goals in the first two rounds, had no goals and three assists in the conference final. Wyatt Johnston, Roope Hintz, Matt Duchene, Mason Marchmen and Jamie Benn combined for just two goals.
“We got to step up,” Dallas winger Jason Robertson, who had two goals in Game 5, told reporters. “It’s unacceptable for us to hang him out like that.
“I mean, all playoffs he’s been our guy, all season. It’s just unacceptable from us.”