Against all odds, the Edmonton Oilers have forced a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Oilers have fought all the way back from a 3-0 series deficit to tie things up after a convincing 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers at a raucous Rogers Place on Friday.
Game 7 is Monday in Sunrise, Fla. It’s the first Game 7 in a Cup Final since 2019 when the St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins.
The Oilers are one win away from becoming just the second team to win a Stanley Cup after falling behind 3-0 in the series. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs are the only squad to have done so.
Edmonton also is one win away from becoming the first Canadian team to capture the Cup since 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens beat Wayne Gretzky’s Los Angeles Kings.
Warren Foegele opened the scoring with the lone goal in the first period, beating Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky after taking a beautiful saucer pass from Leon Draisaitl.
The Oilers dominated the opening 20 minutes, outshooting Florida 11-2.
Adam Henrique made it 2-0 46 seconds into the second, finishing off a two-on-one on a pass from Mattias Janmark.
The Panthers thought they cut the deficit to 2-1 10 seconds later on a goal by Aleksander Barkov, but after a video challenge by Oilers coach Kris Knobluach the play was called offside.
Zach Hyman put the Oilers up 3-0 with a breakaway goal late in the second for his league-leading 16th of the playoffs.
Barkov gave the Panthers some life with a beautiful deke of Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner early in the third period.
But Ryan McLeod sealed it with an empty-netter to put the Oilers up 4-1. Darnell Nurse finished it off with another empty-netter after a great save by Skinner.
After that goal, the fans chanted “We want the Cup. We want the Cup.”
They just might get their wish.
The Panthers had trouble generating anything offensively much of the night. A Florida forward didn’t register a shot on goal until after the halfway mark of the game.
Watch Game 7 on Monday at 8 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. MT on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+.
