Edmonton Oilers vs. Florida Panthers Prediction, NHL Odds
One of the highlights of the 2025-26 NHL regular-season schedule arrives on Saturday night as the Edmonton Oilers visit the Florida Panthers in a rematch of the past two Stanley Cup Finals. The Cats won both of those and are -140 on the NHL odds with a total of 5.5 goals.
Oilers vs. Panthers NHL Betting Odds
Think the Oilers might have a little bit of motivation on Saturday night to beat the Panthers after Florida won the past two Stanley Cup Finals over Edmonton? Could we see a third this summer? That is priced +2700 for the exact matchup, while the Panthers are +370 second-favourites in the Eastern Conference behind Carolina (+360), and the slumping Oilers are +500 third-favourites in the West behind Colorado (+240) and Vegas (+440).
Only once in league history has there been three straight Finals between the same teams: Montreal vs. Detroit from 1954-56. The Red Wings won the first two and the Habs the last.
I personally don’t see either getting back to the Stanley Cup Finals because all that extra hockey is going to take its toll eventually. It might already be on both teams this regular season. Edmonton does not look anything like a true West contender right now with its usually awful goaltending.
Florida is somewhat idling for now with a lot of key guys on injured reserve led by Matthew Tkachuk and former Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov. Tkachuk should make his season debut next month. Barkov blew out his knee and won’t play this regular season. It’s possible he can get back for the playoffs. If not, that would be a massive loss. And injuries are no doubt why the Panthers are puttering along and in fact would miss the playoffs as things stand.
Edmonton will host Florida to conclude the regular-season series on March 19. The Panthers have won six of the past 10 RS meetings, and the over-under is 5-4-1.
Edmonton Oilers
A seven-game road trip that started fairly promising and concludes here has not gone well of late as the Oilers lost a third straight Thursday, 2-1 in OT at Tampa Bay. Goaltending has been the primary issue for Edmonton’s struggles so that was particularly rough with Calvin Pickard playing so well.
The Oilers jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 1:32 in on Trent Frederic’s second goal of the season – ending a stretch of 20 games without one — but the Lightning tied it at 17:28 of the third and then Jake Guentzel won it at 1:43 of OT. It was Edmonton’s fifth overtime loss of the year.
Leon Draisaitl assisted on the Frederick goal for his 570th career assist to pass Jari Kurri (569) for fourth place on the franchise’s all-time list.
Pickard has not started back-to-back games this season, but I wonder if coach Kris Knoblauch ponders it after he played so well Thursday. But most likely back to Stuart Skinner even though he has been raked for nine total goals in back-to-back losses. He does still have a solid 2.70 road GAA. The Oilers are 2-8 in their past 10 away.
Florida Panthers
After a bit of an inconsistent start, which is very understandable with a Stanley Cup hangover (again) and all the team’s injuries, Florida is starting to find a groove in winning four of five following a 1-0 home win over New Jersey on Thursday.
That’s what always makes the Panthers tough. They are capable of winning a game like that or a wild back-and-forth like their 8-5 home win over Vancouver on Monday. Sam Reinhart had the lone goal Thursday, his 26th career game-opening goal with the Panthers to pass Stephen Weiss for the sixth most in franchise history. The record is 50 by Aleksander Barkov.
Reinhart is on a five-game points streak, his 17th five-game point streak with the Panthers, which is the third-most in team history. Sergei Bobrovsky got the win Thursday to become the seventh goaltender in NHL history to reach the 10-win mark in 15 or fewer games six or more times. It was the Russian’s 51st career shutout to tie Tomas Vokoun for the seventh-most shutouts by a goaltender born outside of North America.
Bobrovsky has started three in a row and normally this might be a spot for backup Daniil Tarasov simply to keep Bobrovsky fresh. But he almost surely will be in there for a Stanley Cup Finals rematch. Florida is 8-2-1 at home.
EDM
FLA