One game to go

A sort-of preview of Game 7 with pseudo help from two NHL assistant coaches

Let’s start this piece with a conversation I’m actively having with my Uber drive on the way to the airport.

“Hockey still going on?”

“Yeah, that’s actually why I’m headed to the airport now, Game 7 is tomorrow night.”

“No shit! Edmonton actually did it? I saw it was 3-0, and when I saw that it was a blowout (in Game 4), I just assumed it was like the NBA, that Florida just finished it in five.”

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Yep, Edmonton actually did it.

Down 3-0, the Oilers have won three straight to force a Game 7, winner-take-all game for the Stanley Cup on Monday.

Since the third period of Game 3, the Oilers have been the better team and dictating how the series has been played. Connor McDavid has done Connor McDavid things, and the Panthers have gone from a team in the midst of a coronation to a state of potential panic.

It’s just the third time in NHL history a team has come back from down 0-3 in the Stanley Cup Final to force a Game 7.

The Detroit Red Wings forced a Game 7 after being down 3-0 in 1945, but fell in Game 7. The Toronto Maple Leafs famously won the 1942 Stanley Cup in Game 7 after going down 3-0 to those same Red Wings.

Aside from the emotional element, what should we expect in Game 7?

Fittingly on Friday, I was at a coaching clinic in Ann Arbor called The Coaches Site: Live. Two of the presenters happened to be coaches who know the two finalists extremely well: Calgary Flames assistant Cail MacLean and Tampa Bay Lightning assistant coach Rob Zettler.