It All Comes Down to This!

By: Carter Rennyson

It may be hard to believe, but we have a Game 7. The two best words in sports!

The 2023-24 NHL season comes to an end tonight, where either the Edmonton Oilers or the Florida Panthers will hoist the Stanley Cup. With a win in Game 7, Edmonton will become the first Canadian team to win the Cup since 1993 and will also become just the fifth team all time to come back from a 3-0 series deficit. If Florida wins, it will be their first Stanley Cup in the franchise’s thirty-year history.

The Oilers can complete one of the largest comebacks in sports history when you consider how this team started their season. They got off to a horrible start, going 2-9-1 in their first twelve games, which led to the firing of Jay Woodcroft. Kris Knoblauch was named head coach, and since then they haven’t looked back. The Oilers found their game and turned in a sixteen-game win streak along the way, the second-longest streak in NHL history. And tonight, they can make some more history.

Connor McDavid has stepped up on the biggest stage to help this Oilers team force a Game 7. McDavid has the fourth-most points in an NHL postseason and has already broken the record for most assists in a postseason. He has earned the Playoff MVP award regardless of what happens tonight. However, this team is more than just McDavid. Zach Hyman has sixteen goals this postseason, Evan Bouchard has the most assists by a defenseman during a single postseason, and Stuart Skinner has been incredible since being benched during the Vancouver series.

The Florida Panthers have played great hockey over the past two months. Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Sergei Bobrovsky have led by example with their stellar play in intense playoff games. The Panthers defeated their in-state rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning, a tough Boston Bruins squad, and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers. They got out to a 3-0 series lead led by their forecheck, defense, and goaltending. After losing to Vegas in last year’s final, it seemed fitting that they would get their hands on the Cup this time around. However, Edmonton has battled back fiercely, leaving the Panthers in disbelief.

This series has been unpredictable, and tonight’s game is no different. The last three Game 7s in the Stanley Cup Finals have been won by the road team. Will Edmonton make it four in a row? Or will the Panthers clinch their first Stanley Cup in franchise history?