Stanley Cup Final Game Six: Let's Get Dangerous!

It all ends on Monday.

Game Six of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final had a few trivial notes involved prior to puck drop. For one, the Edmonton Oilers forced Game Six after losing the first three games of this thing, becoming the fourth team to do so in the Final and the tenth team to pull it off in the overall playoffs. They do have a bit of history on their side in this game: no opposing team has ever clinched the Cup in Edmonton.

That statement would remain true.

The first period was quiet at first, each team had a shot on goal in the first five minutes. All of a sudden, the Oilers took over--big time. It would lead to Warren Foegele opening the scoring at 7:27, but after that, the Florida Panthers received the first power play of the game. I repeat: the Panthers had the game's first power play. Forgive me if that occurrence didn't bring me any relief. The Panthers had the first power play of Games Four and Five, yet it would be the Oilers who scored shorthanded both times, and the PP would be killed off. The Panthers PP was killed off without a single shot on goal, but hey, at least the Oilers didn't score a shortie this time!

Oilers led 1-0 after a first period that saw them outshoot Florida 11-2. And in the first minute of the second period, it was Adam Henrique who made it 2-0. Just seconds later, Aleksandar Barkov made it 2-1, and it looked like the goal would put the Panthers back in it...until Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch decided to challenge for offsides:

There's the scene right there. That's too close. It still looked onside, though, but it was too close. Usually when it's that close, they claim that it's "inconclusive," and the goal would stand, which would result in a Panthers power play. That's exactly what I expected, and yet...the call was offsides. No goal.

Paul Maurice, the Panthers coach, was absolutely livid, as was I. The refs wanted Game Seven. They could have easily let that stand, it was way too close to overturn. I've seen worse than that ignored. So the score remained 2-0, and whatever momentum the Panthers had was sapped away. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped whatever he could, but he could not stop Zach Hyman from scoring his sixteenth goal of the playoffs.

Oilers led 3-0 after two periods. "Game 7 Monday," was my tweet prior to the Hyman goal. Now the third periods began with some good karma, as Barkov got the goal back that was taken from him. It was scored just 88 seconds into the third frame, meaning that the Panthers had plenty of time to (at least) tie this up. No dice. Bobrovsky was pulled with three and a half minutes left, but all that would happen after that was an empty netter from Ryan McLeod, and a second one 12 seconds later from Darnell Nurse, which Stuart Skinner assisted on.

I think I actually saw this sign on TV as I watched this game. The Edmonton Oilers won Game Six, 5-1. They did it. They made it to Game Seven. This series was over. I'm not just saying that because it was 3-0. I'm saying it because of how the Oilers played in those first three games. They were lethargic for those first three games, yet they have been superhuman in the last three. Here's a scary tidbit. Read the first paragraphs of the recap. You know whose name you don't see? Connor McDavid. The same man who is having a killer postseason had no points in this game. Leon Draisaitl had only one point in this game. That's absolutely frightening. The Superman/Batman duo of the NHL did very, very little in this game, yet the Oilers still blew the Panthers out of the water. If I'm a Panthers fan (and thank God I'm not), I'd be in a deep funk right now.

The Oilers became the third team in NHL history to force Game Seven of the Cup Final after falling behind 3-0. They join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1945 Detroit Red Wings on that short and exclusive list. The '45 Red Wings lost their Game Seven. The '42 Maple Leafs won theirs. The reverse sweep possibility became a reality when the Oilers won Game Five. Now that they've won Game Six, it looks like it'll be a certainty.

As I said before, it all ends Monday. The 18th Game Seven in Stanley Cup Final history will take place on Monday in Sunrise. The Cup will be in the building one more time, and someone's winning it. For the first time in the 2024 playoffs, the Panthers will face elimination. Overall history is on their side, as the home team is 12-5 overall in Cup Final Game Sevens. However, here's a tidbit on the Oilers' side: the road team won the last three Cup Final Game Sevens. The Oilers are 1-1 in such games--winning in 1987 but losing in 2006.

Will the Panthers finally capture their first Stanley Cup, thereby continuing the Canadian Cup drought for one more year? Will the Oilers make history and complete the reverse sweep, and force the Panthers to join Garfield on the list of cats who hate Mondays? The overall season finale will answer those questions.

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