Oilers force Game 7 against Panthers

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Friday to power a winner-take-all Recreation 7 for the Stanley Cup.

Friday’s third-straight loss by the Panthers units up what might be an epic Stanley Cup collapse. Just one group in NHL historical past has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit to win the championship.

Recreation 6 was a far cry from Florida’s first three wins in these early days of the sequence, when the Panthers scored 11 targets mixed.

On Friday, Edmonton saved the Panthers scoreless till early within the third interval, when Florida’s Aleksander Barkov made a aim to deliver the rating to 1-3. It might be the Panthers’ just one.

Warren Foegele, Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman had the primary three targets for the Oilers. Ryan McLeod and Darnell Nurse scored the ultimate two targets late within the recreation towards an empty web to seal the 5-1 win.

Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner fended off a late effort by Florida to attempt to make some headway because the minutes drained away, however the two empty-net targets left little doubt as to the end result. Skinner had 19 saves on the night time.

Just one group — the Toronto Maple Leafs — have come again from a 3-0 deficit to win the sequence, and it occurred 82 years in the past towards the Detroit Purple Wings. Three different groups completed the feat in earlier playoff rounds. 

Other than the prospect to make historical past, a win by Edmonton Monday would break a 31-year drought for Canada.

The hockey-obsessed nation has not had a Stanley Cup winner for the reason that 1992-93 Montreal Canadiens.

“Hockey has all the time been Canada’s sport,” Edmonton mayor Amarjeet Sohi advised NBC Information earlier this month. “Hockey in Canada is king and queen.”

Oilers celebrity Connor McDavid had no targets or assists in Recreation 6, however he has 11 factors to this point on this Stanley Cup Ultimate — solely two behind Wayne Gretzky’s file of 13 factors which he completed in 1988 whereas with the Oilers.

Recreation 7 is at 8 p.m. Monday at Amerant Financial institution Area in Dawn, Florida.