Panthers 1 – Oilers 5 | A date with history

There is a misperception that the six-club era in the NHL includes everything that preceded the 1967 expansion. However, nothing is less true, since, as we know, this era rather refers to the quarter of a century that began in 1942 and ended in the year of the Expo.

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The last time a team won the Stanley Cup after overcoming an 0-3 deficit in the Finals, it was literally before the six clubs. Just before, in fact, in 1941-1942, when the league had seven teams, including the poor Brooklyn Americans. And since it was possible at that time, it was the Toronto Maple Leafs who won. That’s how long it’s been.

The Edmonton Oilers today have the chance to repeat this feat, achieved only once in fact. With a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday, they tied the series at 3-3. They will thus have the chance to become, on Monday, the first Canadian organization to win the Cup since the Canadiens in 1993, which will not be without irony since it would happen on June 24. Note, the last time a match was played at Saint-Jean, in 2021, the Canadian received the trophy bearing the name of the man who suspended Maurice Richard 66 years earlier. We are not close to a paradox.

Caution having not gone out of fashion until proven otherwise, we will wisely remember that this final match will begin with a mark of 0-0 and that the Panthers could benefit from a new lease of life at home to save the face, furniture and the rest. However, seeing the serious expression of his players as they retreated to the locker room after the final siren, and especially after seeing the Oilers play an almost perfect match, one can wonder who will bet against Connor McDavid and his gang.

The turnaround could not be more complete. As if the two clubs had played two separate series of three matches each. The first ended with an obvious advantage for the Panthers, despite a revival of life for the Oilers in the third period of the third duel. And the second one flew over by Edmontonians.

This appearance of domination over the last three games is actually attributable to the total score of 18-5 for the Oilers. A clear break with the deficit of 4-11 from the first three clashes.

Anyone who has watched the series knows that in reality, these imbalances are not representative of the overall action on the ice. At five-on-five, the Oilers generated more expected goals and allowed fewer in the first three games than in the most recent three, according to the Natural Stat Trick website. The trend in puck possession goes in the same direction.

Magic

In a way, it’s the magic that has changed sides. Or, in a less occult lexicon, the proverbial “momentum”. Everything that worked for the Panthers now works for the Oilers. Goalkeeper Stuart Skinner, without multiplying acrobatics, does his job diligently. The support staff got to work. The offensive stars too. The power play produced – although not on Friday.

In short, everything goes… and the opposite is true for the Panthers. In this game number 6, Matthew Tkachuk, until then an inspiration for his teammates, had his worst playoff game in 2024, perhaps since his arrival in Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky, without being to blame for his team’s defeat, no longer made the miraculous save which kept his club in the game.

And there was this disallowed goal at the very start of the second period which perhaps summed up all the recent setbacks of this team. It took a long video replay to determine that an offside had been committed at the entrance to the zone just before the goal was scored. A question of millimeters, perhaps in the singular.

Head coach Paul Maurice might well have been furious, even if he was wrong. His club didn’t even play that badly, despite its inability at the start of the match to generate shots on target. But coming close, as we know, is not enough to score, even less to win.

After this overturned decision, the score remained at 2-0. And even if the 3-0 lead remains presumably the worst to maintain in hockey, we all knew, when Zach Hyman exploded the amphitheater at the end of the second period, that there would be a seventh game. We suspected it since Leon Draisaitl’s poetic pass which allowed Warren Foegele to open the scoring. But in the last twenty, despite the visitors’ efforts, there was never really any doubt.

It all comes to a close on Monday at Sunrise, where the Oilers have a date with history. If they fail to complete their comeback, their exploit will remain a passage in the story of an interminable spring – we are now in summer, by the way, an indication that it is too long.

But if they succeed, it will undoubtedly be one of the most exceptional triumphs in professional sport, period.

This is not a prospect that presents itself often. So there is reason to take advantage of it.