EDMONTON, Alberta — Leon Draisaitl made his first major impact in a Stanley Cup Final as the series returns to South Florida.
Draiseitel assisted on Warren Vogel’s early goal, Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman scored in the second period and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Friday night to force a Game 7.
They are the first team since the Detroit Red Wings in 1945 to tie in the Finals after losing 3-0 in the series.
On Monday night at Sunrise, the Oilers will have a chance to become the only NHL team to come back from behind to hoist the Stanley Cup, joining the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.
“We had unwavering belief,” Hyman said, “that no matter what happened throughout the year, we would get through it. No matter how tough the situation is, we believe we have a chance. A long season of facing adversity has prepared us, and this next season will be the toughest of all. To do it in front of this crowd is an incredible feeling. Now we have a chance to win, our first chance to win.”
Any chance of making hockey history and ending Canada’s 30-year Cup drought could only come with the heroics of Connor McDavid, who pulled the Oilers out of the woods with four points each in Games 4 and 5.
Draisaitl, McDavid’s longtime partner, a reigning league MVP and considered one of the best players in the world, was largely ineffective against the Panthers but provided a spark in Game 5. McDavid, meanwhile, was held scoreless on Friday.
Draisaitl got the puck at center ice, weaved through a Florida defender and put the puck on the tape of Voegele’s stick for a tap-in that Sergei Bobrovsky had little chance to stop.
Of course, that didn’t stop the enthusiastic sellout crowd of more than 18,000 from jeeringly chanting “Sergey! Sergey!” all night, even before the national anthem began.
But the goalkeeper everyone calls “Bob” bears little blame, and a mistake in front of him also contributed to a two-on-one charge, with Mattias Janmark’s perfect pass allowing Enrique to beat Bobrovsky with a two-on-one charge.
Standing in front of their goaltender, the Panthers looked nervous and timid, nothing like the powerhouse team that reached the finals for the second straight year, winning its first three games and coming within a whisker of winning its first title in franchise history.
Florida took just six shots midway through the game but ended up with 21.
Continuing his trend of being there when the Oilers needed it most, Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner thwarted the Panthers with some timely saves, allowing just one goal to Aleksander Barkov less than 90 seconds into the third period.
“He’s great,” Janmark said of Skinner.
Ten seconds after Henrique scored, Barkov got the puck for the first time and Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch successfully argued for offside, allowing the goal to stand.
After a lengthy review, it was determined that Sam Reinhart had entered the offensive zone probably an inch or less ahead of the puck, and the announcement was followed by cheers from fans.
This wasn’t the loudest moment at Rogers Place, and there were plenty of deserving contenders for the honor.
As the Oilers took to the ice to the tune of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” the decibel meter on the video screen reached 113.8.
The noise level may have approached that level when Ryan McLeod and Darnell Nurse found the back of the net in the final seconds of the game, triggering chants of “We want to win the Cup!” and wild celebrations from the viewing party outside.
It was the climax of a city where downtown was bathed in a sea of blue and orange just hours before kickoff.
Friday may have been a holiday in Edmonton, a city of nearly a million people that could now dream of the Oilers hoisting another white pennant on their ceiling — and in the most unlikely of ways.
