After trailing 3-0 in series, Oilers force Game 7 against Panthers

EDMONTON —  Trailing 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final just a week ago, the Edmonton Oilers put themselves in a position to potentially pull off the greatest comeback in NHL history. 

After “dragging” the Panthers back to Alberta for Game 6, the Oilers took control of the game early and didn’t let Florida back in it, defeating the Panthers 5-1 to force a Game 7. 

For a third consecutive game, the Oilers scored the first goal of the game when Warren Foegle beat Sergei Bobrovsky for his third goal of the playoffs — giving them a 1-0 lead.

Edmonton kept Florida to just two shots on goal in the first period. 

The Oilers added two more goals to their tally on just five shots  in the second period — Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman being the scorers. 

When Florida was down 2-0, Aleksander Barkov got the puck past Stuart Skinner just 12 seconds after Henrique scored — but the goal would be overturned after replay confirmed that Sam Reinhart was offside on the zone entry.

“It was offside so it doesn’t count,” Barkov said of the overturned goal. “We had our chances after that to get to one goal, but they got [it] to 3-0.”

Searching for offense, Florida’s forwards didn’t do themselves any favors on Friday. It took 32 minutes for a Panther forward to record a shot on goal in the game — while the Oilers were already up 2-0.

The Oilers took a 3-0 lead into the final period of play. 

Florida needed something going into the third and it needed to be quick — the Panthers captain was the one to give his team a small glimpse of hope. 

88 seconds into the third, Barkov walked through a few Oilers defenders before he tucked away his eight goal of the  postseason — giving the Panthers one more shot to go after it. 

Unfortunately for the Panthers, the early goal from their captain wasn’t enough to rally the team. 

Edmonton shut it down defensively and scored two empty net goals to take Friday’s Game 6 by a 5-1 score. 

Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner had 20 saves and an assist in the win.

“I don’t compliment myself much but I thought that pass was right on Darnell’s (Nurse) tape,” Skinner said of his assist. “Kinda looked like Leo (Draisaitl) there for a second.”

In what was their final game of the season at Rogers Place, Edmonton fed off the energy brought to them by their home fans — now they’ll have the chance to return to them with the Stanley Cup.

‘It means the world to us,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl on giving the fans a dominating performance in their final home game. 

Now the Oilers look to do the impossible and reverse sweep their way into a Cup, Monday night in Sunrise.

On the other side of the ice, the Panthers looked deflated. Just a few days ago the Cup was about to make its new summer residence in Sunrise. Instead, the Oilers will look to lift Lord Stanley in front of Panthers fans in what would be just the second Stanley Cup Final reverse sweep in NHL history (Toronto, 1942).

“Right now if you walked in the room there won’t be a lot of happy people — and I’m not worried what it is tonight,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said when asked of his teams mental state. “Who you are tonight mens nothing to who you’re going to be two days from now.”

Game 7 will be on Monday, June 24 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. It will be the 18th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Final history and the first since 2019. Home teams are 12-5 in all-time in Game 7 of the Cup Final.

“It’s obviously tough but we’re excited to go home and play a Game 7, at home in front of our fans,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said.