Edmonton Oilers on brink of Stanley Cup win after incredible comeback

The Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup, and it’s legendary.

With a victory just one step away from rewriting NHL history, the Oilers headed to Florida on Saturday for a Game 7 on Monday that seemed impossible just a week ago.

In the NHL’s expansion era, no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final to win a best-of-seven championship.

82 years ago, only the 1942 Maple Leafs had done it. Only four teams in NHL history have come from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series to win: Toronto (1942), New York Islanders (1975), Philadelphia Flyers (2010) and Los Angeles Kings (2014).

The first Canadian NHL team to win the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, and Edmonton’s first Stanley Cup in 34 years, were a few of the highlights of Monday’s game at Amerante Bank Arena.

Edmonton won the Cup behind the dynamic duo of captain Connor McDavid and center Leon Draisaitl, who are nearing the end of their contracts, with Draisaitl having one year left on his deal and McDavid having two years left on his deal.

The Stanley Cup Final will be decided in a Game 7 for the 18th time and the first time since 2019 when the St. Louis Blues defeated the Boston Bruins.

While the Oilers have avoided elimination in three straight games this postseason, going 5-0, the Panthers got their fourth and final chance to win the Cup after falling to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in last year’s final.

Florida has lost three straight games in a home decider, including a 5-1 Game 6 loss in Edmonton on Friday, but Oilers head coach Chris Knoblauch doesn’t think his team will get the upper hand because his players aren’t as nervous or anxious.

“I don’t know what’s going on in Florida or how they’re handling things, so I don’t think I’m qualified to comment on their position,” he said Saturday.

“My experience with the team and how we handled the knockout rounds, we’ve had some tough times. We had two knockout rounds against Vancouver and I was very confident in how the team responded and performed in those games.

“When we were down three in the series against Florida, I saw a very confident team, no panic, no desperation, just a very focused mentality.

“I like the way our team played when we were down three, and I really like the way they’re playing now.”

Scoring first in a game is always desirable, and that was on full display in Edmonton’s three straight wins, two of which saw them score first to take the lead over the Panthers.

A repeat of that on Monday could be devastating. In the 17 Stanley Cup finals, the team that scores first is 12-5, and all 17 of those finals went to Game 7.

“When you score first, first of all, it calms a lot of nerves,” Knoblauch said.

“It also forces the opponent to open the ball up a bit and maybe not use as much defensive structure as they would like because they’re trying to get back into the game and try to score the next goal, so it takes some pressure off your team in a way.”

Although McDavid was the catalyst for Edmonton to score four straight points in Games 4 and 5, the Oilers won Game 6 without their captain scoring.

Warren Foegele connected on a smart pass from Draisaitl in the first period, and Adam Henrique put Edmonton ahead 2-0 less than a minute into the second period.

Since conceding more than two goals in a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on May 12, the Oilers have saved 46 of 47 penalties.

“We were able to win the first faceoff and were able to get the puck out, which helped us a lot because our frontcourt press did a really good job,” Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner said after allowing the Panthers to score three times in Game 6.

“We kept guys on the perimeter and in the neutral zone, and when they got opportunities, we blocked hard.

“We are working really well together and had a lot of chances in the shootout, so it’s great for us to have that chemistry and we have to keep doing that in another game.”

Panthers forward Vladimir Tarasenko is the only player from either team with experience in a Cup Final Game 7. He had an assist for St. Louis in that 2019 game.

The 32-year-old Russian has plenty of experience in series finals, having reached Game 7 five times in his career and going 4-1.

“Going into Game 7, both teams are going to play really hard and try really hard, but sometimes when you play harder and try harder, sometimes you make more mistakes,” Knoblauch said.

“Going into Game 7, I really couldn’t have predicted what kind of game this was going to be. I just knew our guys were going to be excited for it and love the challenge. They’ve been enjoying it, the whole process.”

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