How much is revenge fuelling the Oilers this year?

After coming so close a year ago, the Edmonton Oilers are hungry to win Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Last season, the Oilers fell in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers despite valiantly erasing a 3-0 series deficit. Now, Edmonton is back in the final against the same team, hoping for a different result this time around.

While some might think revenge is on the Oilers’ mind heading into the series, it seems as if the team has hopes that it can simply avenge last year’s loss and finally bring the Cup back to Canada. Unlike their first trip to the championship series, Edmonton seems to have a little more confidence heading into the final than they did last year.

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed how much revenge is fueling the Oilers heading into the series.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I don’t think it’s revenge that the Oilers are after. I just think they want to prove to everyone that they can get the job done. I don’t think there’s any sort of hatred towards the Panthers.

Frank Seravalli: I would agree with you, and there’s obviously no rivalry or anything like that, and I wouldn’t expect a carryover. What I will say is I think a little bit of what the Oilers are feeling right now, and you could tell I think you get a good vibe from teams the Oilers are confident, but I do get the sense that they’re facing a little bit of pressure. Remember, the Panthers were in this spot last year. Got to the Cup Final the previous year, lost. Paul Maurice was talking to open Cup Final media day [last year] I just want to win one of these things one damn time, and they go and do it. Now, they come into this series like, ‘Hey, we’re the big dogs here. We’re the team that won.’ … I think the Oilers are feeling a little bit of ‘hey ‘We’ve had some close calls, we’ve got the very best players in the world. This is our year. This is our time to break through.’

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here: