The Edmonton Oilers are on the brink of history.
Three games into the series, the Florida Panthers appeared all but certain to win the Stanley Cup after earning a 3-0 lead. Just eight days later, the Oilers tied the series 3-3 in front of a roaring home crowd at Rogers Place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luWWiJWergk&ab_channel=NHL
Edmonton has outscored the Panthers 18-5 in their last three games. While Connor McDavid did not record a point in Game 6 after back-to-back four-point games, twelve Oilers got their names on the scoresheet.
Just two other teams have forced a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final after falling behind three games to none, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, and no team had managed the feat since 1945. Now, the Oilers will look to become just the second franchise in league history to turn that comeback into a Cup.
This Edmonton team is no stranger to low expectations, starting the season with a record of 2-9-1 and ranking third-last in the league at American Thanksgiving. Few expected them to make the playoffs, and few expected them to recover from three games down, but the Oilers believe they can push through once again.
“It’s been fun,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said of the comeback push. “It has been stressful. It has been — we’re just playing. I know we’ve surprised a lot of people, but I don’t think we’ve surprised anybody in the room. We felt that we could do this. We put on winning streaks before. We felt early in the series, down three, we felt that we could have won two of those, in our opinion. We thought we’ve played well enough to win those and they just didn’t go our way. Now we’re just playing. Back’s up against the wall.
“We’ve been written off many times throughout the season, so, I don’t know. We’ve been a pretty loose group. It’s nice to be around this team because I think they’re having the time of their lives right now. Not [only right now], not because we’re just going to Game 7. I think we were having a great time even when we were down three games.”
After losing Game 3, goaltender Stuart Skinner told reporters, “We’ve got nothing but hope in this room.” That hope, however unlikely it seemed then, has nearly paid off. With the Oilers now one win away from a championship, Skinner elaborated Friday night on what that belief meant to him.
“It’s hard to really put it into words,” he said. “There’s just a feeling, a really strong feeling of belief with this whole group. And we’ve had it for a long time now. And no matter what situation that we put ourselves in, we always do have that belief. So me saying that felt very — just normal. I really do believe in this group and I’m sticking to those words. If anyone can do it, it’s the Oil. We’ve got a lot more work to do here though.”
As the city of Edmonton celebrates overcoming the 3-0 deficit, the Oilers know their job isn’t done just yet. They’ll face the Florida Panthers one final time Monday night for a winner-take-all Game 7.
“It’s been a hell of a story so far, but at the end of the day, we play to win, right?” said Leon Draisaitl. “And this is going to be the hardest game for us. And they’re going to come out hard; they’re going to play at home. We have to bring our game again.
“I’m just really proud of the way we gave ourselves a chance. — that’s what it’s all about. But by no means is this going to be an easy walk in the park now. This is going to be the hardest game of the series and we know that. We’re aware of that. But that being said, obviously really, really proud to give ourselves a chance.”
