The Stanley Cup will be in the building once again Friday night with the Florida Panthers getting their third chance to win the first championship in franchise history in Game 6 against the Edmonton Oilers.
What hasn’t changed is that Florida needs just one win to hold that famous sports chalice.
But what has changed is that the Panthers have lost two games in a row and some of that invincibility has evaporated.
Game 6 will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, and the revitalized Oilers will have the home crowd cheering on victory that would tie the series at 3-3 and force a Game 7 on Monday night.
Game time is 8 p.m. EDT and will air on ABC and ESPN Deportes and live stream it on ESPN+, fubo TV (FREE trial) and DirecTV Stream (FREE trial and discount).
To close out the series and finally be atop the NHL, Florida will have to deal with Connor McDavid likely cruising to playoff MVP honors and a raucous sellout crowd of over 18,000 fans.
They are back in Edmonton thanks largely to McDavid, Edmonton’s captain who had four points apiece in Games 4 and 5. He is the first player in league history with consecutive four-point games in the final, and his 42 are five shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record set in 1985. Mario Lemieux had 44 in 1991 and Gretzky tallied 43 in 1988.
There are seven players — Lemieux in 1991, Gretzky in 1988, Paul Coffey in 1985, Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay in 1955, Syl Apps in 1942 and Montreal’s Newsy Lalonde in 1919 — who had seven points in a two-game stretch of the final. All are looking at now at McDavid, just to put in perspective how good a series and postseason he’s having.
GAME 6, PANTHERS AT OILERS
Status: Panthers lead best-of-seven series, 3-2
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton Alberta
When: 8 p.m. Friday EDT
TV: ABC
Live stream: ESPN+, fubo TV (FREE trial) and DirecTV Stream (FREE trial and discount)
“Connor doing Connor things,” linemate Zach Hyman told reporters. “That’s what makes him special. He’s able to elevate his game at the most important time — the biggest reason why we’ve come so far. We’re not here without him. He continues to drive the bus.”
As for the Panthers, they could use an early lead and a stellar effort from goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who has been excellent through much of the postseason but sagged a bit in Games 4 and 5.
Overall, the Panthers have been outscored 15-4 since the start of the third period in Game 3.
Both teams are 2-0 in Game 6 so far in these playoffs. Edmonton beat Vancouver 5-1 and Dallas 2-1; Florida beat Boston and the New York Rangers, each time by a score of 2-1.
All-time, Edmonton is 17-9 in Game 6 and 10-7 at home in Game 6s. Florida is 6-3 all-time in the sixth game of a series, 2-3 when that contest is on the road.
There’s either one or two games left in what has been a long season for both teams.
One team will set a record, the other will tie a record on Friday.
Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final is Edmonton’s 106th contest of the season, tying the 2005-06 Oilers for the most in a season (including playoffs) in franchise history.
It will be the 105th of the season for the Panthers. That’s a Florida single-season record; the 1995-96 Panthers played 104 games.
The NHL record for games in a season is 108, done on six occasions, most recently by the St. Louis Blues in their 2018-19 Stanley Cup title season.
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