FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Now it’s very simple for the Florida Panthers: Win on Monday and you’ll be Stanley Cup champions. Lose on Monday and you’ll be the first team since World War II to blow a 3-game lead. 0 in hockey title series.
Either way, the result will last forever.
“It’s probably the biggest game in the NHL in years,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said.
He’s not wrong, and for the Panthers, the 2,464th game in franchise history is unquestionably the greatest of all time. It is for all the marbles, immortality waiting with a victory, ignominy waiting with a defeat. The fourth and final chance the Panthers will have this season to win the Stanley Cup has arrived, as Florida hosts the Edmonton Oilers in the final game of this season on Monday night.
Florida won the first three games. Edmonton won the next three. Not since 1945 has a Stanley Cup Final followed such a trajectory, and not since 1942 has a team gone down 3-0 in a title series and ended up winning — the fate Florida is trying to avoid.
“It doesn’t matter how it was, it doesn’t matter how you frame it,” Tkachuk said. “They lost the first three games. We lost the next three. It is right now. It doesn’t matter what happened to get to this point. … This whole season comes down to one game. At home. How can you not be so excited about this? This is absolutely incredible, an incredible opportunity.”
The first three games, all in Florida. The Panthers outscored the Oilers 11-4, had more hits and more blocks and looked completely on their way.
The last three games, all in Edmonton. The Oilers outscored the Panthers 18-5, are scoring 22.5 percent of their shots on goal — a video game rate — and have nearly twice as many blocks in that span as Florida.
Add it all up, it’s 3-3. Game 7 is here.
“You can look at every storyline, you can analyze everything, you can tell how we match up, they’ve gained momentum, we’re on our heels. It doesn’t matter,” Panthers forward Kyle Okposo said. “It’s your next game. You’re only as good as your next game.”
No matter the rollercoaster the teams took to get here. It’s just the 18th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Finals history. Home teams have won 12 of the previous 17 (a good sign for the Panthers), but road teams have won each of the last three (a good sign for the Oilers ).
Panthers coach Paul Maurice was asked if Game 7 will define legacies, including his own, given the historical significance of potentially squandering a 3-0 series lead.
“I’ll let you know at the end,” said Maurice.
Maurice has spent this series being asked questions about winning the Cup (something people try not to talk about until they’ve actually won), the 3-0 lead, the pressure that comes when opportunities to win are wasted like in Game 4, Game 5 and Game 6, and much more along those lines. He’s a smart guy. He understands why these questions are coming.
But when he was approaching players for quick chats during Sunday’s practice, it wasn’t about general ramifications. He was taking the temperature off a team he still fully believes in, especially in Game 7.
“There is a much larger contextual story that means nothing to me now, but means everything to you,” Maurice said. “These are the stories you have to write. In fact, what makes this all incredible is the context. No one has ever, ever played on a secret rink in Canada and scored the Game 3 overtime winning goal in qualifying. It’s a game that always excites you. And that is the context of this game and we will live in that context.”
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov — will it be him or Oilers captain Connor McDavid accepting the Stanley Cup from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Monday night — agrees.
In fact, that’s it. Championship or collapse. On Monday night, Panthers history will be written.
“I was one of those kids that definitely played by myself whenever I was outdoors or at home … thinking, ‘This is Game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, maybe even overtime,’” Barkov said. moments. I had many of these memories, but now it will definitely become true tomorrow. Exciting. The most exciting time to be a hockey player.”
