Eight weeks, four rounds, and two dozen games after the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs began, the Edmonton Oilers are now just one win away from the franchise’s sixth championship.
Edmonton takes on the host Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Monday in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. The Oilers can become the first team since the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 to hoist the NHL’s championship trophy after trailing 3-0 in the best-of-seven series.
The Oilers have captivated their city, if not all of Canada and the entire hockey world, by taking fans on a thrill ride. Edmonton beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 in the first round, defeated the Vancouver Canucks in seven games in Round 2, and then captured its first conference championship in 18 years with a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars.
Now, the Oilers have rallied with three straight victories against Florida, outscoring the Panthers 18-5 over that span, to force a winner-take-all game that will end with one team in ecstasy and the other in agony.
Many superlative adjectives have been used to describe the Oilers’ journey: remarkable, incredible, amazing, unparalleled, etc. None of these are inaccurate. There’s no such thing as hyperbole when talking about something so rare as a 3-0 comeback.
However, the essence of Edmonton’s Stanley Cup run can best be captured in three phrases that have become very popular in Oil Country.
“If Anyone Can Do it, it’s the Oil”
Stuart Skinner is an Edmontonian because the Oilers netminder refers to the team as “The Oil,” a term mostly exclusive to local fans.
Born and raised in the city where he now plays, Skinner first used the term as he spoke to reporters following Game 3 on June 13. Edmonton had just lost 4-3 to Florida and now trailed in the series 3-0: “I’m not too sure what the stats are coming back (from being down 3-0), but if anyone can do it, it’s the Oil,” Skinner said.
Following his brilliant 29-save effort in Edmonton’s Game 5 triumph on June 18, during which he made a couple of massive saves late in the third period with the Oilers clinging to a one-goal lead, Skinner was asked what the last two games had shown about his squad. “You can never count the Oil out,” the 25-year-old netminder responded, using the Edmonton vernacular again.
Then, after the Oilers won Game 6, Skinner doubled (or is that quadrupled?) down on his original statement: “There’s just a really strong feeling of belief with this whole group, and we’ve had it for a long time now, and no matter what situation we put ourselves in, we always do have that belief, so me saying that felt normal.’
“I really do believe in this group, and I’m sticking to those words: ‘If anyone can do it, it’s the Oil.’ We’ve got a lot more work to do here, though,” said Skinner, who stopped 20 of 21 shots in Edmonton’s 5-1 win on Friday (June 21).
The Oilers battled back from trailing 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 in their second-round series against Vancouver. They were down 2-1 to Dallas in the Western Conference Final before winning three straight games. Now, after winning these three last contests against the Panthers, Edmonton is 5-0 when facing elimination in the 2024 playoffs.
As for those stats that Skinner wasn’t too sure about? Only nine times in Stanley Cup Playoff history had a team forced Game 7 after falling behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series. Now it’s 10.
“Drag Them Back to Alberta”
After dropping the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton blasted the Panthers 8-1 at Rogers Place on June 15, thus cutting Florida’s series lead to 3-1 and forcing a Game 5 in Sunrise.
Edmonton led 2-0 before the game was eight minutes old, went ahead 6-1 in the second period, and by the time the third period rolled around, Rogers Place was in party mode.
Connor McDavid had a big night in Game 4, with a goal and three assists to lead his team to victory. But the Oilers captain had no mind for celebrating. At the post-game press conference, he was asked whether erupting for eight goals had changed how the Oilers felt about the series.
“No, I don’t think so,” McDavid responded. “It’s just one win, that’s all it is. It doesn’t matter if you score eight or you score one. It’s just one win, and we got to go to Florida and do a job and drag them back to Alberta.”
Those last five words were clipped and replayed across media endlessly over the next couple of days leading up to Game 5. They became the rallying cry for Oilers fans, and even McDavid’s teammates picked up on it, with Oilers forward Connor Brown telling reporters, “We’re gonna try to drag ‘em back to Alberta” during pre-game media availability.
Brown gave the Oilers an early lead in Game 5, scoring short-handed just 5:30 into the first period, and McDavid brought them home, scoring into an empty net with 19 seconds remaining to seal a 5-3 win.
McDavid finished the night with two goals and two assists, becoming the first player in Stanley Cup Final history with consecutive four-point games, as he completed his task to drag the Panthers back to Edmonton for Game 6.
“Play La Bamba, Baby”
They’ve been saying it for Edmonton for years, but “Play La Bamba, Baby” has only become well known across the NHL during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Oilers started playing “La Bamba” by Ritchie Valens to celebrate each home victory, as a tribute to Joey Moss, after their longtime locker room attendant passed away in 2020.
“La Bamba” was a favourite song of the widely beloved Moss, who was around the Oilers for the better part of four decades. Born with Down Syndrome, Moss served as an inspiration, and his zest for life was infectious.
Later, a video of five-year-old Oilers fan Ben Stelter saying, “Play La Bamba, baby,” went viral. Stelter had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, two months before his fifth birthday.
Related: A Tribute to Edmonton Oilers Superfan Ben Stelter
Edmonton’s players befriended Stelter, who spent time around the team. Just like Moss, the courageous youngster was a tremendously inspiring person with an infectious spirit. Stelter passed away at age six in 2022, having profoundly impacted Oil Country.
After Dallas beat Edmonton in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final on May 25, Stars DJ Jonathon Shipman trolled the Oilers by playing “La Bamba” at American Airlines Center. The DJ was unaware of the significance of the song and, after learning of it, issued a heartfelt apology. In a gesture of goodwill, Shipman donated to the Ben Stelter Foundation, as did many generous Stars fans.
The Oilers have played “La Bamba” 15 times so far this postseason. Can they cue it up one more time in South Florida on Monday night?
