The Edmonton Oilers look to avenge last season’s loss against the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.
The pregame narrative: Connor McDavid and the Oilers fought back from down 0-3 to force a Game 7 before ultimately losing to the Panthers in 2024. Both teams come into the Cup Finals without much resistance from their conference foes.
Check out my Panthers vs. Oilers picks for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, featuring McDavid and Evan Rodrigues.
Panthers vs. Oilers picks
Best Bet: McDavid to score 2+ points (-108)
This would be an unplayable line for anyone else in the Stanley Cup Final, but for McDavid, it kind of feels like a steal.
The Oilers’ captain gets to start his redemption tour at home. He scored two or more points in two out of the three Cup final games in Edmonton in 2024.
Overall, he finished with 11 points in the series en route to winning the Conn Smythe as part of the losing team for the first time in over 20 years.
This season, Edmonton looks more dominant heading into its second straight SCF appearance.
- The Oilers lost their first two games of the 2025 postseason vs. the Los Angeles Kings but have gone 12-2 since.
- In the playoffs, McDavid has 2+ points in 8/14 games, so his hit rate is higher than the almost 2-to-1 probability for this pick on Wednesday.
McDavid is on a mission, and with more help this time around, he should smash last year’s 11 points if this series gets into the later stages.
Key stat: He had nine points in five games in the Western Conference final vs. the Dallas Stars (4-1 against this line).
Stanley Cup Final Game 1 props
Rordigues to score 1+ points (+105): The closest player to McDavid in terms of playoff points in last year’s series was Rodrigues with seven.
And it just so happens he’s heating up ahead of the rematch.
- Rodrigues scored seven points in five games vs. the Carolina Hurricanes.
- He now has points in six of the last eight games dating back to the series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Not only that, but he had more than one point in four of those games.
Rodrigues plays on the top line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart. He’s in a great opportunity to do damage, and it’s shown in his recent production.
Panthers vs. Oilers picks made at 4:23 p.m. ET 06/03/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.