A year ago when the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers met in the Stanley Cup Final, they were polar opposites in everything from climate, market and franchise history to deep-run experience and toughness.
Since Florida won that series in seven games for its first championship, much has changed to make these opponents much more alike.
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FILE - Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (29) and Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) go after the puck during the third period of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov hoists the Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FILE - Florida Panthers center Eetu Luostarinen (27) and Edmonton Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm (14) go after the puck during the second period of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - Florida Panthers players celebrate a goal by Sam Reinhart, not shown, during the second period of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) talks to Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) at the end of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
The Panthers have added talent and skill, and the Oilers have gotten older and become harder to play against. Those changes set the stage for an compelling rematch. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Edmonton.
“These are the two nastiest teams left,” 2003 Cup winner Mike Rupp said. “They don’t seem to get rattled, they play with a lot of intensity — sometimes they cross the line. They just defend well. There’s a lot of things that they’re different than one another about, but at the core of it, they’re pretty similar to each other.”
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl haven't gone anywhere, but they've also been through the heartbreak of forcing Game 7 against the Panthers and falling short of the goal they've been hunting over the past decade together. With Trent Frederic, Jeff Skinner, John Klingberg and Jake Walman, the Oilers are bigger and more seasoned for this.
“They’re meaner,” said retired defenseman Jason Demers, who like Rupp is now an NHL Network analyst. “They have a little bite to their game — a lot more bite than last year where they were a little bit more speedy.”
Florida can be speedy, opportunistic and dangerous — and has been over the past few postseasons — winning 10 of 11 series since coach Paul Maurice took over and winger Matthew Tkachuk arrived after a trade from Calgary.
The Panthers are in the final for a third consecutive year, losing to Vegas in 2023 only after Tkachuk, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and others were banged up to the point that they had nothing left in the tank. They were the underdog back then.
With one successful Cup run complete and with Seth Jones and Brad Marchand added to the core led by Tkachuk and captain Aleksander Barkov, they now look unstoppable.
“They're a heck of a team,” McDavid said after beating Dallas to win the Western Conference Final. “Obviously, it's their third finals. They're a special group. We're a special group. It's going to be fun."
It also could be physical. The Oilers lost hard-nosed winger Zach Hyman to a long-term injury late in the series against the Stars, but they are more prepared now to play the rough-and-tumble style Florida has won with.
The fact that it's a rematch in the final — the NHL's first since Pittsburgh beat Detroit in the second of their back-to-backs in 2009 — only spices things up. There have only been four rematches in the Final since 1968.
“I don’t think there’ll be any weeding out or wading into that series,” Demers said. “I think it’s going to be gun shot, explosions right off the bat.”
Going down two games to none last year led to McDavid's profanity-laced outburst in the locker room, a moment caught on cameras that wasn't quite enough to turn around the series. The memory of going down 3-0, clawing back to cross the continent again for a Game 7 and not winning is still fresh in his mind.
The Oilers have been through that trip to the final and feel the pain now, something the Panthers endured before winning. Now it's time to see if they learn the same lesson and change the result.
“Edmonton now, I think they needed to experience last year to get to where they’re at now and they’re kind of unflappable,” Rupp said. “I think that’s a weapon for them.”
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (29) and Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) go after the puck during the third period of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov hoists the Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FILE - Florida Panthers center Eetu Luostarinen (27) and Edmonton Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm (14) go after the puck during the second period of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - Florida Panthers players celebrate a goal by Sam Reinhart, not shown, during the second period of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) talks to Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) at the end of Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.
Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
