EDMONTON, Alberta — Matthew Tkachuk says he believes the reigning champion Florida Panthers are the underdogs in their Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Edmonton Oilers.

“Absolutely. We’ll continue riding that underdog role. We have so far,” the Panthers winger said at Tuesday’s media day.

The Oilers finished with 101 points in the regular season, three more than the Panthers (98) in the Eastern Conference, to secure home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Final, which begins Wednesday night. Florida defeated Edmonton for the Stanley Cup in seven games last postseason after holding a 3-0 series lead.

But that didn’t earn them favorite status for this rematch. The majority of pundits are predicting superstar Connor McDavid will lift the Stanley Cup for the first time. ESPN BET has the Oilers as a -130 favorite to win the Cup.

“They’ve earned the right to have home ice. They had a better regular season than us, so we’re here starting in Edmonton,” Tkachuk said. “It’s not something that we’re new to. We’ve started on the road each round in these playoffs. Hopefully we can use that [experience] to our advantage.”

This is the Panthers’ third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, having lost to Vegas in 2023 and then winning the Cup in 2024. Tkachuk chuckled when asked how Florida stays motivated with all that success.

“I mean, it’s the Stanley Cup. It’s the most motivating thing in sports,” said Tkachuk, who has 16 points in 17 games in the playoffs this season. “We’re not content with just going to the finals. We want to be a championship-caliber team, year in and year out.”

His coach, Paul Maurice, agreed that the Panthers are anything but content with having defeated the Oilers last season.

“I couldn’t articulate very well the experience of last year prior to [winning], and then it happens and you have this incredible experience with your group of guys that you care so much about. And then they come back next year, and you say, ‘God, I want to do it again.’ It’s such a wonderful thing,” he said.

For Tkachuk, one of the measures of the Panthers’ success has been how South Florida has been transformed into a hockey hotbed.

“Hockey’s kind of turned into the No. 1 sport down there. It’s been fun to be a part of that,” he said. “To see the growth ever since I’ve come to Florida in the game and the fan base and the rinks around and what the new practice rink has done for Fort Lauderdale and South Florida, it’s just continuing to grow.”

To illustrate the point, Tkachuk told a story from around the time he was traded to the Panthers in 2022.

“I was picking up dinner somewhere, by myself staying at the hotel. I remember somebody asking me what I did for work. I’m like, ‘Oh, I play hockey’. And they went, ‘Hockey? In Florida? You must suck,'” he said, drawing laughter. “It’s definitely changed since then.”