Connor McDavid on Friday was held without a point, so Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers’ other top players stepped up to put them one win from the Stanley Cup by beating the Florida Panthers 5-1 in Game 6.
Draisaitl made his first major impact in the series by setting up Warren Foegele’s early goal, while Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman scored in the second period for the hosts.
“At the end of the day, we play to win and this is going to be the hardest game for us,” Draisaitl said of Game 7, which is to be played on Tuesday morning Taiwan time. “We have to bring our game again.”
Photo: AFP
They are the first team to tie a finals after falling behind 3-0 in the series since the Detroit Red Wings in 1945. The Oilers have the chance in Sunrise, Florida, to join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs as the only NHL teams to come all the way back from that deficit to hoist the Stanley Cup.
“There was an unshakable belief,” Hyman said. “No matter what happened throughout the year, we always believed we could pull through. No matter how dire the circumstances, we think we have a chance. It was a long season facing adversity which prepared us. The next one will be the hardest. It feels unbelievable to do it in front of this crowd. To have a chance to win now, this is our first opportunity to win.”
The opportunity to make US ice hockey history and end Canada’s three-decade-long Cup drought exists only after McDavid’s heroics with four points apiece in games 4 and 5 to take the Oilers from the brink to belief. This was the first time in his nine-year career that they have won a game in which he did not have a point or put a shot on net.
Draisaitl, his longtime running mate from Germany who has also been league Most Valuable Player and considered among the best players in the world, lit the spark in Game 5 after being largely ineffective against the Panthers.
“He’s a horse,” defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “He’s always showing up at the biggest moments. You look at all his playoff performances, he’s one of the best to ever do it.”
Draisaitl got the puck at center ice, skated around and through Florida defenders and put the puck on the tape of Foegele’s stick for a tap-in that Sergei Bobrovsky had nearly no chance of stopping.
The goaltender was hardly to blame, though, with mistakes in front of him also contributing to the two-on-one rush that ended with Henrique beating Bobrovsky off a perfect pass from Mattias Janmark.
“We have one game to go,” Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov said. “We were ready right from the start to play a seven-game series and nothing changes now. We got up three, and they played three good games. Now it’s up to us to win at home.”
Florida had just six shots on net midway through the game and finished with 21.
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner made timely saves to stymie the Panthers, allowing just a goal to Aleksander Barkov less than 90 seconds into the third period.
“He’s been lights out when we’ve needed him,” Janmark said of Skinner.
Ryan McLeod and Nurse scored empty-netters in the final minutes, setting off chants of: “We want the Cup” among the crowd and a wild celebration at a viewing party outside.
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