The Edmonton Oilers could achieve what no other team has done in 82 years: erase an 0-3 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final.
This is, of course, not yet done. However, after defeating the Florida Panthers 5 to 1, and thus signing a third victory in a row, the Albertans will have the chance to lift the cup if they win the seventh and final game of the series, Monday, at Sunrise.
The Oilers were quick to strike: a magical pass from Leon Draisaitl to Warren Foegele allowed the latter to open the scoring after less than eight minutes of play. The locals did it again early in the second period when Adam Henrique , again thanks to an anthology lifted pass, this one from Mattias Janmark, brought the score to 2-0.
Less than 10 seconds later, the Panthers thought they had cut the lead in half, but the goal was disallowed after a lengthy review concluded that there had been an offside on the sequence. At the end of a hard-fought engagement, Zach Hyman escaped and tripled his team’s lead. The crowd, already noisy, exploded with joy.
The Panthers certainly got back into the game in the third period through Aleksander Barkov, but it was too little, too late. Two empty-net goals sealed the deal.
The turnaround could not be more complete. After three games, the Floridians had complete control of this series. The Oilers, after seeming to regain confidence in the third defeat, followed up with three dominant performances, ending with wins of 8-1, 5-3 and 5-1.
However, they still have one match to win, undoubtedly the most difficult.
