The Edmonton Oilers are just the third team to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final after trailing 3-0, and the first since 1945. The Oilers avoided elimination again with a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers, meaning there will be one more game in the 2023-24 NHL season.
Backed by a rapt Rogers Place crowd, the Oilers came out strong in Friday night’s Game 6. Warren Vogel gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead 7 minutes, 27 seconds into the first period, and the Oilers never let the Panthers gain any momentum after that.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who had four points in two straight games, didn’t score or take a shot in this one, but that didn’t matter as the rest of the team’s key players performed well on offense.
Voegel’s first-period goal was the result of some very dirty stick handling and passing from Leon Draiseitel, and just 46 seconds into the second period, Adam Henrique stormed through the No. 1 numbers to score his fourth goal of the playoffs.
The real clincher was an exemplary combination of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman. With 1:40 left in the second period, Nugent-Hopkins got in front of a Gustav Forsling point shot and the rebound skated into the neutral zone. Hyman stalked over to chase the loose puck and was rewarded with a breakaway.
Hyman, the playoffs’ leading scorer, scored his 16th goal of the postseason with a smooth backhanded finish to give the Oilers a 3-0 lead entering the third period.
The turning point of the game and series came well before Hyman’s goal and just 10 seconds after Henrique made it 2-0, when Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov smashed in a rebound that appeared to cut Edmonton’s lead to 2-1, but the goal was disallowed.
The Oilers argued for offside and the referee ruled the goal nullified, saying Sam Reinhart was marginally offside. Had the call been reversed, the game would have been down one point and the Panthers would have been awarded a power play.
That being said, there’s no guarantee Florida took advantage of the situation, as the Panthers are 0-for-3 with the man advantage and 1-for-19 in the series overall. To make matters worse, Florida’s net goal differential on the power play is actually -1.
Barkov eventually scored the winning goal in the third period, but it was too late, there wasn’t enough coverage around him, and the Panthers limped back to Sunrise, Florida, facing what may be the biggest collapse in NHL history.
Only two teams have ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals. The last team to do so was the Detroit Red Wings in 1945, who lost in Game 7 to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The only team to ever “come back” to win a Finals game was the 1942 Maple Leafs, who came from a 3-0 deficit to win against those very same Red Wings.
If the Oilers make history and stage a comeback, it would also end two long Cup droughts. Edmonton has not won the Lord Stanley Trophy since 1990 and no Canadian team has won it in 31 years.
Game 7 is Monday night at Amerante Bank Arena in Sunrise. Fasten your seatbelts, everyone.
