EDMONTON, Alberta— Connor McDavid was held without a point, so Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers’ other best players stepped up, bringing them one win away from the Stanley Cup.
Draisaitl made his first significant contribution to the final by setting up Warren Foegele’s early goal, Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman scored in the second period, and the Oilers forced Game 7 by defeating the Florida Panthers 5-1 in Game 6 on Friday night.
“At the end of the day, we play to win and this is going to be the hardest game for us,” Draisaitl told reporters. “We have to bring our game again.”
They are the first club to tie the final after trailing 3-0 since the Detroit Red Wings in 1945. The Oilers have a chance Monday night in Sunrise to join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs as the only NHL teams to overcome a deficit and win the Stanley Cup.
“There was an unshakable belief,” Hyman remarked. “No matter what transpired over the year, we always thought we could make it through. Regardless of how grave the situation, we believe we have a shot. It was a protracted season of adversity that prepared us. The next one will be the toughest. It feels surreal to do it in front of this throng. This is our first chance to win.
The opportunity to make hockey history and break Canada’s three-decade Cup drought exists only as a result of McDavid’s exploits in Games 4 and 5, which lifted the Oilers from the brink of defeat. This was the first time in his nine-year career that they had won a game.
Draisaitl, his longstanding running partner from Germany who has previously been named league MVP and is regarded as one of the top players in the world, provided a spark in Game 5 after being largely ineffectual against the Panthers.
“He’s a horse,” defenseman Darnell Nurse stated. “He’s always present at the most important occasions. When you look at his postseason performances, he’s one of the best to ever do it.
Draisaitl received the puck at center ice, skated around and between Florida defenders, and placed it on the tape of Foegele’s stick for a tap-in that Sergei Bobrovsky had little chance of stopping. That, of course, did not deter the ecstatic sellout crowd of 18,000+ from mockingly screaming, “Ser-gei! Ser-gei!” before the anthems and throughout the night.
The goalie known as “Bob” was scarcely to blame, since blunders in front of him also contributed to the 2-on-1 rush that concluded with Henrique beating Bobrovsky off a brilliant feed from Mattias Janmark. The Panthers in front of their goaltender appeared tight and hesitant, in stark contrast to the juggernaut that reached the final for the second year in a row and won the first three games to claim the franchise’s first championship.
“We have one game to go,” Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov said. “We were ready from the beginning to play a seven-game series, and nothing has changed. We went up three, and they played three good games. Now it is up to us to win at home.”
Florida had only six shots on goal halfway through the game and ended with 21. Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner made key stops to stop the Panthers, allowing only one goal to Aleksander Barkov less than 90 seconds into the third period.
“He’s been lights out when we’ve needed him,” Janmark remarked about Skinner.
The first time Barkov got the puck past him, 10 seconds after Henrique’s goal, Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch successfully challenged for offside. A thorough analysis revealed that Sam Reinhart entered the attacking zone about an inch or less before the puck, prompting a shout from supporters.
“I actually didn’t think it was that close,” Knoblauch explained. “In my mind, it was definitely offside.”
That wasn’t the loudest Rogers Place got, and there were lots of contenders for that honor. When the Oilers took to the ice to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” the decibel meter on the video screens read 113.8.
Ryan McLeod and Nurse scored empty-net goals in the final minutes, eliciting chants of “We want the Cup!” “We want the Cup!” and a raucous celebration at the outdoor viewing party.
That was the fever level for a city bathed in blue and orange downtown in the hours leading up to puck drop. Friday might as well have been a holiday in Edmonton, where almost a million people can now dream of the Oilers hoisting another white championship banner to the rafters — and doing it in the most unlikely way possible.
“We’re just excited to keep our season going,” McDavid added. “That is what it has been about. Take each game and each day as it comes. “I look forward to the next one.”
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