The Edmonton Oilers will attempt a comeback accomplished just once in NHL history on Monday night when they face the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. Not since the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 has a team overcome a 3-0 disadvantage in the title series.
The Oilers’ whirlwind journey has created a dramatic conclusion to the National Hockey League season. Excitement has spread across Canada and abroad, but it’s their hometown of Edmonton that is truly experiencing the rush. Tens of thousands of fans have packed its downtown on game nights, forming a sea of orange, blue and white at outdoor watch parties.
Special performances by big names such as Shania Twain and Our Lady Peace have only elevated the excitement, which has poured into local bars and restaurants. If the Oilers win on Monday, they will be the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
On the eve of the biggest games of their careers, Oilers superstars Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid sat in front of a room of journalists in Sunrise and were asked who they pretended they were as children when they scored the winning goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Mr. Draisaitl pondered the query and then had a sheepish grin.
“I was Leon in Germany,” the Oilers forward deadpanned. After laughs subsided, he allowed that he pretended to be Pavel Datsyuk, his favourite NHL player as he grew up. “You dream in those situations. There is such a movie playing in your head.”
The moderator attempted to move on to another question but Mr. McDavid broke in.
“You want me to answer that?” Edmonton’s superstar centre said, quite eagerly, especially for him. “It probably was Sid [Crosby]. You dream of yourself playing in that game and scoring the big goal.”
Then he paused.
“You think you are never going to get that opportunity and here we are getting that opportunity.”
On Monday, Mr. Draisaitl and Mr. McDavid will get their first chance to win a Stanley Cup when they take on the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. The Florida rink is on the edge of the Everglades west of Fort Lauderdale; there is even a “Beware of Alligators” sign in a marshy area beside it.
The Oilers were given up for dead early in the regular season and rallied from disadvantages in the second and third rounds of the playoffs. Then they fell into a 3-0 hole to the Panthers in the Cup final series and fought back to force one final game.
Between the Oilers’ two best players, and two of the best in the NHL, Mr. McDavid and Mr. Draisaitl have spent 19 years with the organization. There were dark days to begin with, then promise, then darker days, then repeated playoff heartbreak.
“It’s been a long road,” Mr. McDavid said. “There have been lots of ups and downs and a lot of lessons along the way. It takes a lot.”
The Oilers have won five Stanley Cups but none since 1990. Florida, which entered the league in 1993, is still looking for its first.
Edmonton scored just four times in three consecutive defeats to start the Cup final. Since then it has outscored its opponent, 17-5, and the Panthers have gone from looking like a sure winner to roadkill on Florida’s Alligator Alley highway.
“Usually if you lose three games in a row in a series, you don’t get another chance at another game,” Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk said. “Somehow both of us still have an opportunity. It’s going to be very exciting, desperation on both sides, leave-it-all-out-there hockey.
“It’s been a very even series. It all comes down to this.”
Mr. McDavid is all but certain to win the Connor Smythe Trophy – otherwise known as the Conn Smythe – as the most valuable player throughout the post-season. He has 42 points in 24 games and has already exceeded by one Wayne Gretzky’s record of 31 assists during a playoff run.
Mr. McDavid would need a monstrous night to tie Mr. Gretzky’s record of 47 points in the playoffs but has already had back-to-back four-point contests in this series.
The Oilers have received major contributions from defenceman Evan Bouchard (32 points), Mr. Draisaitl (31), Zach Hyman (a league-leading 16 goals), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (seven goals and 22 points) and goalie Stuart Skinner, who has wildly exceeded expectations.
Mr. Skinner is 10-0 in Games 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the playoffs and has been better than Panthers counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky in the final. The Edmonton native has a .909 save percentage through the six games to Mr. Bobrovsky’s .884. In the past three victories Mr. Skinner has a .941 save ratio and Mr. Bobrovsky just .807.
Kris Knoblauch was hired to replace Jay Woodcroft as the Oilers’ coach on Nov. 12 and on Nov. 23 called a team meeting to discuss the team’s objectives. They were in the basem*nt then but had eight- and 16-game winning streaks after that and found their way to the Cup’s Game 7.
“What I most respect is how they responded and how resilient they are,” Mr. Knoblauch said. “There were a lot of tough times, especially when we were down 3-0 in this series. People said they didn’t have a chance, but I don’t think anyone thought they didn’t have one.”
Now there is just one game left. Winner takes all.
With a report from Alanna Smith
