Stanley Cup Final: Oilers force Game 7 against Panthers after trailing series 3-0

Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers reacts after scoring an empty net goal during the third period against the Florida Panthers in Game Five of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena, in Sunrise, Fla., on Tuesday.

By Greg Rosenstein and Phil Helsel
The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Friday to force a winner-take-all Game 7 for the Stanley Cup.

Edmonton kept the Panthers scoreless until early in the third period, when Florida’s Aleksander Barkov made a goal to bring the score to 1-3. It would be the Panthers’ only one Friday.

Warren Foegele, Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman had the first three goals for the Oilers. Ryan McLeod and Darnell Nurse scored the final two goals late in the game against an empty net to seal the 5-1 win.

Florida dominated the Oilers through the first three games of the final and the series appeared all but over until the Oilers responded with three straight victories.

Only one team in league history has ever come back from down 3-0, and it happened 82 years ago when the Toronto Maple Leafs overcame the deficit to the Detroit Red Wings in 1942. Three other teams accomplished the feat in earlier playoff rounds.

Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner fended off a late effort by Florida to try to make some headway as the minutes drained away, but the two empty-net goals left little doubt as to the outcome. Skinner had 19 saves on the night.

Aside from the chance to make history by overcoming a 0-3 deficit, a win by Edmonton Monday would break a 31-year drought for Canada.

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

“Hockey has always been Canada’s sport,” Edmonton mayor Amarjeet Sohi told NBC News earlier this month. “Hockey in Canada is king and queen.”

Oilers superstar Connor McDavid had no goals or assists in Game 6, but he has 11 points so far in this Stanley Cup Final — only two behind Wayne Gretzky’s record of 13 points which he accomplished in 1988 while with the Oilers.