The Edmonton Oilers are on the verge of one of the greatest comebacks in sports after defeating the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on Friday (June 21).
Warren Foegele, Adam Henrique, Ryan McLeod, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse all scored for Edmonton, while Aleksander Barkov had the Panthers’ lone goal. Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner made 20 saves, outduelling Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 16 of 19 shots that he faced.
Edmonton has now won three consecutive games to tie the best-of-seven series at three victories apiece. Game 7 is set for Monday (June 24) at Amerant Bank Arena in South Florida, where the Oilers will have a chance to make history.
Only once has a team won the Stanley Cup Final after trailing 3-0: the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942. There has never been a team that has rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to win the NBA Finals or World Series.
Edmonton has completely flipped the script in this series, outscoring Florida 20-5 since the end of the second period in Game 3. The Oilers have not trailed at any point in the last three games.
On Friday, the Oilers were ahead 1-0 after 20 minutes and took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission. Florida scored early in the third period to cut Edmonton’s lead to 3-1 before the Oilers put the game away with a pair of late empty net goals.
Friday’s victory was a total team effort for the Oilers, who are now just one victory from capturing the franchise’s sixth Stanley Cup. Here are three reasons Edmonton won Game 6.
Depth Made the Difference for the Oilers
Connor McDavid had four points in each of Edmonton’s last two victories, bringing his total in the 2024 postseason to a league-leading 42 points. Without their captain’s sensational performance in Game 5 on Tuesday (June 18), the Oilers likely aren’t playing on Friday.
Related: McDavid Sets 5 Records as Oilers Score 5 Goals in Game 5 Win
But for all his brilliance, McDavid wasn’t going to be able to put up four points every night. If Edmonton was going to force Game 7 and ultimately win the series, it would need others to step up. And on Friday, that’s what happened.
Edmonton got one goal from a player on each of its four forward lines, while veteran defenceman Nurse chipped in with a goal from the backend.
McDavid, in fact, didn’t even have a point. Nor did blueliner Evan Bouchard, who is second to McDavid for most points in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The third-leading point scorer this postseason, Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, had just one assist.
The only one of Edmonton’s top seven goalscorers in the 2024 Playoffs to light the lamp Friday was Hyman, who ranks first among all players this postseason with 16 goals.
McLeod now has three goals in the Stanley Cup Final, tied with McDavid for the team lead. Foegele and Henrique have each scored twice in the series. Henrique has four career Stanley Cup Final goals, and three have been game-winners.
Florida’s Disallowed Goal Was Turning Point
Henrique tallied just 46 seconds into the second period on Friday, giving Edmonton a 2-0 lead. Before the goal could even be announced, however, Florida responded on the ensuing shift, with Barkov putting the puck behind Skinner at 0:56.
Just like that, Florida was right back within one goal and had potentially flipped the momentum at a point in the game when Edmonton could have taken control.
But hold the phone: On the replay, it appeared that Florida forward Sam Reinhart might have crossed the blue line just before the puck. ABC and Sportsnet broadcast multiple angles of the play, but none showed anything conclusive enough to give confidence that the call would likely be overturned.
But Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, who has demonstrated a sixth sense for these things in the playoffs (recall that he elected not to challenge a goal by the Vancouver Canucks in Game 6 of Round 2, and it proved a critical decision in Edmonton’s victory) and decided to challenge Barkov’s goal.
Sure enough, the officials found that Reinhart was offside, and Barkov’s goal came off the board. Rogers Place erupted when referee Chris Rooney announced, “after video review, the play was offside at 19:09, no goal.”
To say the least, it was a gutsy challenge by Knoblauch. If the ruling on the ice had not been overturned, Edmonton would have been assessed a penalty meaning that Florida would be trailing 2-1 and going on a power play (PP) with a chance to tie the score. Oilers fans will shudder to think at how differently things might have unfolded in that scenario.
But Knoblauch felt confident, or at least that’s what he said, telling reporters afterwards that “the only hesitation was maybe there wasn’t the right video. In my mind, it was definitely offside, but I guess you never know.”
Panthers coach Paul Maurice stated that if the roles had been reversed, he would not have challenged the call, based on the angles he saw.
“I have no idea. It may well have been offside,” Maurice also said during his postgame media availability. “The linesperson informed me that it was the last clip that they got where they made the decision that it shows it’s offside. I don’t have those. So I was upset after the call, based on what I see at my feet and what my video person looks at.”
Edmonton’s Penalty Kill Shuts Down Panthers Power Play
Perhaps a big reason that Knoblauch risked being assessed a minor penalty is well-founded confidence in his team’s ability to kill off said infraction.
Edmonton’s penalty kill (PK) was perfect again on Friday, going 3-for-3 against Florida’s power play. The Oilers have now gone eight consecutive home games without allowing a goal while shorthanded, tied for the third-longest such streak in a single postseason.
How good has Edmonton been on the PK? Over their last 16 games (going back to the start of Game 2 against Vancouver), the Oilers actually have scored more shorthanded goals (3) than they have allowed power-play goals (1).
Power-play output has been key to Florida’s success both in the regular season and in the first three rounds of the playoffs when the Panthers had power-play success rates of 23.5% and 23.3%, respectively. But the power play has been largely a non-factor for Florida in this series, going just 1-for-19, negated by Edmonton’s historic penalty kill.
The Oilers now have a penalty-kill success rate of 94.1% in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. That’s the best ever in a single postseason by a team that advances to the championship round.
Edmonton’s penalty kill performance is reflective of an overall team commitment to defence, which was on display again Friday, as the Oilers blocked at least 22 shots for a third consecutive contest. They also held Florida to its second-fewest shots in the 2024 NHL Playoffs. Florida’s three lowest shot totals in 23 games this postseason have all come against the Oilers.
If the Oilers can keep up this stout defensive play, get another couple of goals from down the lineup, and maybe have a bounce or two go their way, then they very well could be celebrating with the Cup in Sunrise on Monday night.
