The Edmonton Oilers are poised to achieve a remarkable comeback in sports following their victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on Friday (June 21).
Warren Foegele, Adam Henrique, Ryan McLeod, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Darnell Nurse all found the net for Edmonton, with Aleksander Barkov scoring the Panthers’ lone goal. Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner made 20 saves, outperforming Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 16 of 19 shots. Edmonton has now won three consecutive games to tie the best-of-seven series at three wins each. Game 7 is scheduled for Monday (June 24) at Amerant Bank Arena in South Florida, presenting the Oilers with an opportunity to make history.
Only once has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the Stanley Cup Final: the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942. No NBA Finals or World Series team has ever rallied from such a deficit.
Edmonton has completely turned around the series, outscoring Florida 20-5 since the second period of Game 3. The Oilers have led throughout the last three games.
In Friday’s game, the Oilers led 1-0 after the first period and extended it to 3-0 by the second intermission. Florida narrowed the lead to 3-1 early in the third period before Edmonton sealed the victory with two late empty-net goals.
Friday’s win was a collective effort by the Oilers, who are now just one win away from their sixth Stanley Cup. Here are three reasons why Edmonton won Game 6. Connor McDavid played a pivotal role in Edmonton’s recent victories, accumulating four points in each, and leading the league with 42 points in the 2024 postseason. Without McDavid’s standout performance in Game 5, the Oilers might not have played Game 6.
However, McDavid’s brilliance alone couldn’t guarantee victory every night. Edmonton needed contributions from others to force Game 7 and potentially win the series, which is exactly what happened on Friday.
Edmonton received goals from players across all four forward lines and a crucial goal from defenseman Nurse.
In fact, McDavid didn’t score a point in Game 6. Neither did defenseman Evan Bouchard, who ranks second behind McDavid in playoff points. Leon Draisaitl, the third-leading scorer, managed only one assist.
The only one of Edmonton’s top seven postseason goal scorers to find the net on Friday was Hyman, who leads all players with 16 goals this postseason.
McLeod now shares the team lead with McDavid with three goals each in the Stanley Cup Final. Foegele and Henrique each scored twice in the series. Henrique’s career Stanley Cup Final goals include three game-winners. Henrique scored 46 seconds into the second period on Friday, giving Edmonton a 2-0 lead. But before the goal could be announced, Florida responded on the next shift with Barkov scoring at 0:56.
Florida was back within a goal and appeared to shift momentum, but a review showed that Panthers forward Sam Reinhart might have been offside. Multiple angles were reviewed, but none definitively suggested the call would be overturned. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, known for his playoff instincts, challenged the goal.
The officials ruled Reinhart offside, nullifying Barkov’s goal. Rogers Place erupted when referee Chris Rooney announced, “after video review, the play was offside at 19:09, no goal.”
It was a bold move by Knoblauch. Had the call stood, Edmonton would have been penalized, putting Florida on a power play with a chance to tie the score. Oilers fans can only imagine how different things might have been.
Knoblauch’s confidence in his team’s penalty kill was well-founded. Edmonton’s penalty kill was flawless, going 3-for-3 on Friday and has now gone eight consecutive home games without allowing a goal while shorthanded.
Edmonton has scored more shorthanded goals (3) than allowed power-play goals (1) in their last 16 games. Florida’s power play, so effective earlier in the playoffs, struggled in this series, going just 1-for-19, largely due to Edmonton’s historic penalty kill.
The Oilers boast a 94.1% penalty-kill success rate in the 2024 playoffs, the best ever for a team advancing to the championship round.
Edmonton’s defensive commitment was evident on Friday, as they blocked at least 22 shots for the third straight game and limited Florida to its second-lowest shot total of the playoffs.
If Edmonton can maintain this defensive form, get more scoring depth contributions, and perhaps benefit from a few fortunate bounces, they could well be celebrating a championship in Sunrise on Monday night.
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