‘Game Seven’ may be the two best words in sports, but perhaps the one thing that could overshadow this is when a team is looking to erase a 3-0 deficit. That’s because in the history of North American major professional sports with playoff series (NHL, NBA, MLB), 407 teams have gone 3-0 ahead of this Stanley Cup Final, and only five teams in the three leagues are leading taken. lose the series.
The good news for the Edmonton Oilers is that four of those instances have occurred in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, although the Florida Panthers will have home ice as the NHL season draws to an epic conclusion in Sunrise, Florida. Connor McDavid went ballistic in Games 4 and 5, tallying 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists) and leading Edmonton to a return to the series, but the Oilers’ penalty kills were also huge. Edmonton has killed 18 of 19 penalties in this series and 46 of the last 47 in the playoffs.
Florida, meanwhile, needs to find some sort of spark after coming up flat in each of its last three games and being outscored 18-5. Sam Reinhart (-3), Matthew Tkachuk (-5) and Carter Verhaeghe (-9) have been completely contained over the past three games, and the Panthers will need their big stars to step up to avoid losing in the cup final for the second year in a row, becoming the first team since 1942 to lose in the cup final after opening the series with a 3–0 lead.
How to watch Panthers vs. Oilers Stanley Cup Final Game 7
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