Stanley Cup Final Game 7: Predictions for Oilers-Panthers
It all comes down to him. After the Florida Panthers took a 3-0 lead over the Edmonton Oilers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, many thought the streak was over.
Then Connor McDavid and his friends defeated the Panthers by a combined score of 18-5 to even the series at three games, becoming only the third team in NHL history to do so in the Stanley Cup Final.
Will the Oilers pull off the historic reverse sweep? Can the Panthers avoid infamy? Here’s everything you need to know before the puck drops tonight, including what’s at stake for each team, key players to watch and advanced matchup metrics from ESPN Stats & Info.
The Panthers were an afterthought for most of the franchise’s history. Florida lost in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final and then made just four playoff appearances over the next 23 years — without winning a single round. This was a team players longed to join at the end of their careers, when it was more about the mild climate and less about the chances of winning. And the Panthers were accustomed to an arena packed with opposing fans taking advantage of their cheap tickets to a sunny location not readily available in most hockey markets. A nice perk perhaps, but hardly a foundation on which to build a thriving culture.
However, that’s what Florida has now. GM Bill Zito has methodically built the Panthers into a true top contender. He led Florida to the Presidents Trophy and, when it didn’t translate into postseason success, had the guts to trade his club’s best player (Jonathan Huberdeau) for Matthew Tkachuk in a blockbuster trade that Could have ended horribly for Florida.But it didn’t happen. Zito grabbed low-risk, high-reward players such as Gustav Forsling (off waivers) and Oliver Ekman Larsson (after purchase) who have played key roles for him in this dominant season. If last year’s run to the finals was a fluke, this year’s berth was anything but. Florida should have been so good. The goal for the Panthers was to build on that momentum and provide it time and time again during the playoffs.
If they let the opportunity to become Cup champions slip away after taking a 3-0 lead in this series, it’s a dagger in more ways than one. Florida can now write a chapter in its history that even five years ago seemed like a pipe dream. There’s only one question now for the Panthers: Are you ready for it?
What’s at stake for the Oilers at Stanley Cup?
In a word, legacy. Edmonton is one of those places where winning isn’t enough. There has to be something more about the way a team wins.
The Oilers just haven’t won five Stanley Cups. He won five Stanley Cups in seven seasons. They just didn’t have great players. They had the greatest players of all time, one of the greatest to ever play hockey. Winning this particular Stanley Cup not only adds to his legacy, but adds to it. A franchise that has gone from quality to dungeon is now one win away from a return to the top. It’s a chance for what could become the biggest comeback in NHL history, and perhaps the biggest comeback in North American professional sports.
The more serious truth is that this could be the Oilers’ best and/or possibly only chance to win a Stanley Cup with Leon Draisaitl and McDavid, as there is no guarantee they can return to that position. Edmonton has gone through front office, coaching, personnel and philosophical changes to do everything possible to win with a pair of pedigree talents. Winning Game 7 and the Stanley Cup would vindicate all of those decisions. Not that losing Game 7 and the Stanley Cup will doom every aspect of the franchise’s path.But that will lead to more questions at a time when Draisaitl is heading into the final year of his contract as he and McDavid enter their late 20s.
Winning Game 7 would give the Oilers a chance to say they won regardless of what happens next. Losing Game 7 knowing they were so close will make the road ahead a little more painful.
Who is a key player you will be watching for the Panthers?
Sergei Bobrovsky. He went one win away from capturing his first Stanley Cup and Conn Smith, now facing questions about what went wrong with both him and his teammate. Losing Game 7 and the Stanley Cup overall won’t be entirely on Bobrovsky. The Panthers have struggled to defend their zone and haven’t provided the offensive support needed to help any goaltenders. That said, Bobrovsky has also had his own challenges that have compounded the Panthers’ problems. It all adds up to the fact that Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, will be one of the faces of a team that has a chance to sweep the Stanley Cup Finals, only to come out on the other end. . The biggest disaster in sports history
A minus-11 over the past four games, he has a lone assist since the series opener. Not so good. The top-line winger now has one game left to save his team from legendary destruction and his reputation as a clutch playoff performer. No one will miss the inferior numbers that follow if Verhaeghe manages to turn it around in a solid way after making it all the more important.
As the Panthers left, so did Forsling. He was plus-4 in Games 1-3, minus-5 in Games 4-6. Will he be able to play a shutdown role in Game 7? Can he contain McDavid like he did in the first three games? Forsling will certainly get his plaudits from hockey fans, even if his contributions don’t get the big headlines, but they are certainly significant and crucial to Florida’s success in Game 7 and ultimately the Stanley Cup.
Reinhart is conspicuously absent from this cup final. One goal and two assists in six games — and zero points in the last three when Florida had a chance to put away Edmonton? It’s a shocking result from a skater who scored 57 goals in the regular season and had 12 points in 17 postseason games before the Panthers faced the Oilers. Whatever has gone wrong for Reinhart so far, he will put it behind him in a hurry. Florida needs its best players, which Edmonton got from its stars in this series.
Well, here we are. A chance for a superstar moment for a superstar. Tkachuk is tied with Alexander Barkov for the team lead in scoring (22 points), but you can count the number of games in which Tkachuk was a catalyst for Florida on one hand. We got a glimpse of this player in the Panthers’ Game 5 loss: throwing bodies, playing great defense and factoring in two goals. He was sandwiched by two minus-3 efforts, including in Game 6, when his line with Sam Bennett and Evan Rodriguez was a big mess. A playoff run that was more than clutch would be quickly rewritten by an impactful Stanley Cup Final Game 7. A broken sternum against Vegas in 2023 cost him that type of opportunity. This is his moment.
Who is a key player you will be watching for the Oilers?
The fact that he didn’t have a single shot on goal in Game 6 is because he’s the best and most dominant player in the game. But it also shows how the Oilers can win even if he doesn’t record a shot or a point. We’ve seen the Oilers rely on their entire roster to force a Game 7. If they can get another multi-point performance in addition to the secondary and tertiary offense McDavid provided in Game 6, it could prove to be very heavy on their way to victory. First Stanley Cup in over 30 years.
It’s a little strange to see the Oilers hoisting the Cup after seven games in which Draisaitl, even after a bad layoff, couldn’t score a single goal. Especially considering his postseason history and a handful of recent quality prospects. Bobrowski, one of his past Panthers goaltenders, would go a long way toward sealing the deal for Edmonton, with a helper similar to Friday’s perfect pass to open the scoring in Game 6.
The obvious answer here is McDavid, but I’ll go with Draisaitl. He has three assists in the series, which is surprising given his high standard. The Oilers won their first game without McDavid in Game 6 without registering a point or a shot, but the Oilers didn’t even push him in Game 7 without Draisaitl being the team’s second-best player, which he usually is. He was glowing as usual on Friday. What if Monday is “The Draisaitl Game”?
We can’t say Hyman is underrated. But he has 16 goals in the playoffs (the most of any active player in a single postseason), and he tends to light the lamp in timely fashion to boot. This is going to be key for Edmonton in Game 7. Florida will be zeroed in on containing McDavid and Draisaitl, which will continue to give Heyman a chance to do his thing. If the Oilers need consistent performance in any aspect of the game, they can count on Hyman to deliver. And it’s just fun to watch.
Had McDavid not rewritten the record books, Skinner would have had a legitimate claim to the Conn Smyth Trophy for mastery at the end of the series in each round. Skinner has a 10-0 record, a 1.50 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage in games 4-7 in the postseason. He is 5-0 when facing postseason elimination, scoring just the eighth goal to win five elimination games in a single postseason. In Edmonton’s last three wins, he has a 1.67 GAA and a .942 save percentage. Also Mario Kart Player Hack.
