One more, and it's for all the marbles

The Edmonton Oilers' stunning comeback has sent the Stanley Cup Final to an unexpected Game 7.

Are we seeing an epic collapse by the Florida Panthers, who seemed in command when they won the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final? Or is it a sudden awakening by the Edmonton Oilers that has turned the Final around in historic fashion and brought about a Game 7 on Monday in Sunrise, Fla.?

Yes.

And yes.

The Oilers, so talented the past few years but always lacking a crucial element—sometimes they had no depth scoring, sometimes they were undermined by subpar goaltending, and too often they made no more than a casual commitment to defense—finally have combined their prodigious talent with grit, solid goaltending, and clutch performances from support players. They’re one victory from becoming only the second team to win the Cup after losing the first three games of a best-of-seven Final, preceded by only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs’ rally against the Detroit Red Wings.

“I think they’ve kind of disconnected us,” Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues told the league’s website, nhl.com, on Friday.

A victory on Monday also will make the Oilers the first Canada-based team to win the Cup since the Montreal Canadiens beat the Kings in five games in 1993. (Sorry, Kings fans. I know it’s still too soon to talk about Marty McSorley’s series-changing illegal stick. The scars remain, despite the Kings’ Cup wins in 2012 and 2014).

The Oilers are staring at history, and they’re not flinching. Nor are they overconfident, even though they’ve unquestionably seized control of the Final.

“We got a little closer, but that’s about all we did,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl told the TVA network Friday at Rogers Place. “Obviously, it’s a one-game series now and I’m proud of the way we battled back. The least we did is we gave ourselves a chance, right? Nobody thought we could do it. Now, we’re here. One more step to go.”

That last step is the toughest, but the Oilers have shown they’re prepared to reach the top of the mountain.

When it seemed the Panthers would pull off a sweep the Oilers fought back and found an impressively forceful new identity.

They learned there are benefits to clamping down defensively: after allowing Florida to score 11 goals in the first three games, they’ve held the Panthers to five goals in the last three games. Goalie Stuart Skinner has stopped 81 of 86 shots in those three wins.

The Oilers also learned the value of formidable penalty killing, and are 18 for 19 in the Final in addition to scoring two shorthanded goals. They even fended off elimination on Friday without getting a point from playoff scoring leader Connor McDavid in the 5-1 victory in Edmonton that tied the series at three games each.

Bobrovsky allowed only four goals in the first three games, stopping 82 of 86 shots. His name popped up in MVP discussions. But over the next three he allowed 12 goals on 58 shots. No question, he has been a victim of loose defensive play in front of him, but the Oilers have gained confidence by capitalizing on every mistake the Panthers have made.

“It’s funny. Of course, when. you’re down 3-0 you are going to say you believe, but we truly, truly believe in each other and the ability to win one game at a time,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said in his blog on nhl.com. “That’s all it comes down to…We know Game 7 is going to be the hardest one, but we are going to be ready for it.”

The Panthers have no choice but to be ready, unless they want to come out on the wrong side of history on Monday. “It’s what you dream of,” Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues said in his blog for nhl.com, putting a positive spin on a precarious situation.

“We put ourselves in a good spot to get here and it doesn’t matter whether it was one win each or we won three and then they won three. It’s Game 7. Simple as that. It’s what you live for, it’s what you dream of and get ready to go.

“You just flush everything and get ready for Game 7.”

According to the NHL, Monday’s finale will be 1,400th game of a season that began on Oct. 10. That’s a lot of hockey, prolonged by a lot of down time between the conference finals and the Final, and also between games in the Final.

Mostly, the stretched-out schedule is related to TV networks’ demands and the need to avoid potential conflicts with the NBA. Traveling and adjusting to the exceptionally long distance between Edmonton and Sunrise, Fla., likely is a factor, too. Team owners don’t want the season to start in September, so reconfiguring the schedule to start and finish earlier isn’t likely to happen soon. Summer hockey is here to stay.

In the meantime, let’s appreciate that there’s a Game 7 to be played, reputations to be forged, drama to be enjoyed, names to be engraved on the Cup. It feels like this is Edmonton’s time.