Either way, history will be made on Monday night in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena.
Either the Florida Panthers would hoist the Cup for the first time (and on home ice), or the Edmonton Oilers would become the first team since 1942 to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the finals to win the Cup. At the time, the NHL was a seven-team league, with roster influenced by World War II, as Toronto won the championship over Detroit. At the time, the idea of a team in South Florida was unthinkable.
The way this series has played out has been almost as surprising. Sergei Bobrovsky pitched a 32-save shutout win over Florida in Game 1, then a dominating performance in the Panthers’ Game 2 win showed the Panthers’ ability to hold off Edmonton’s superstar and pull off a win. The Oilers mounted an ultimately fruitless comeback in Game 3, and when faced with a possible complete loss at home in Game 4, Connor McDavid decided Edmonton wasn’t done yet, despite the Oilers’ eight-goal outburst.
McDavid got the Oilers out of a bind with four straight goals in Games 4 and 5. And perhaps the most surprising thing about Edmonton’s 5-1 win in Game 6 was that McDavid didn’t score a single point — the Oilers didn’t need him.
“We’ve had a lot of tough times, but most notably in this series when we were down 3-0 and a lot of people were saying, ‘They don’t have a chance,'” Edmonton coach Chris Knobloch said Sunday. “I don’t think there was ever a moment in the locker room where we thought they didn’t have a chance.”
The most recent Game 7 of the Finals came in 2019, when the St. Louis Blues defeated the Boston Bruins to win the franchise’s only Stanley Cup title.
While Bobrovsky has proven error-prone in recent days, Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner has stepped up when it mattered most: After the Oilers were down 3-0 in the series, Skinner stopped 81 of 86 shots while Bobrovsky only stopped 46 of 58.
Win or lose, McDavid was the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Captain Aleksander Barkov did his best to galvanize Florida in Game 6, but just as Matthew Tkachuk did in Game 5, their isolated efforts weren’t enough.
Ultimately, it all comes down to Game 7. Momentum is in the Oilers’ favor, but the Panthers are on home ice. After a back-and-forth series in the first six games, Game 7 looks set to be a coin toss. Will Edmonton win their sixth championship, their first since 1990 when the Panthers didn’t exist, and become Canada’s first champion since Montreal in 1993? Or will Florida finally claim its landmark first title?
“That first shift, that first period is important. [and] “We want to get in and play as soon as we can because we know that’s what makes us successful,” Tkachuk said. “So I’m more looking forward to that part, playing in front of our fans, which are very important to us. I know they’ve been waiting for this game. It’s probably the biggest NHL game we’ve had in years, so the fans are excited.”
In the second round, Edmonton won Game 6 at home and Game 7 in Vancouver, improving the Oilers to 5-0 in the playoffs this season. Game 7 in the finals is another matter, but the Oilers are ready to use that experience.
“Obviously it’s not a normal game,” McDavid said. “Everybody understands that, but you’ve got to make it as normal a game as possible in your mind, and I think part of that is just sticking to how you always do things. Our team has done a great job of doing our best in big moments like this, and I expect the same thing.” [Monday]. “
Growing up, whether it was playing mini-stick in the basement, skating on the backyard rink or roller hockey in the driveway, every hockey kid imagines scoring the winning goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Winning Game 1, 4 or even 6 isn’t enough. Game 7 stands alone as a career-defining moment.
On Monday, one player will get that opportunity on the NHL’s biggest stage.
“The puck drops and momentum changes as the game goes along,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said, “especially in Game 7. The game goes to the wire. Nobody’s practicing, there’s no video tomorrow. Both teams fought hard down the stretch, so it’s a clean slate.”
