2024 NHL Stanley Cup Final: Panthers-Oilers Game 7 Staff Predictions
It all comes down to one game.
Monday, June 24. Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Florida.
The Panthers jumped out to an early 3-0 series lead but have seen their advantage slip as the Oilers stormed back with three straight victories. It's the first time since 1945 that a team that has fallen behind 3-0 in the Final has forced a Game 7.
With that in mind, the B/R NHL Staff was called together to provide one final prediction for the 2023-24 NHL season and give you our Game 7 pick.
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Canada, Rejoice! Oilers Will Pull Off Reverse Sweep
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I was among those expecting the Florida Panthers to take this series, predicting they would vanquish the Edmonton Oilers in six games.
Oh, I wanted Edmonton to win, hoping they would end Canada's three-decade Stanley Cup drought. I wanted to see Oilers captain Connor McDavid hoisting hockey's holy grail, cementing his legacy as his generation's greatest player.
But I picked the Panthers because their physical style was better suited for the playoff grind. They were a tight-knit group that returned to the Final after tasting bitter defeat against the Vegas Golden Knights last year. They were healthier and more experienced than they were a year ago. Their roster was deeper, their goaltending better, their defense stronger.
Things went according to plan in the first three games. And then McDavid put the Oilers on his back in Games 4 and 5. Goaltender Stuart Skinner shook off his losses in the first three games and became a stone wall. The Oilers started to believe, chipping away at the Panthers' seemingly insurmountable 3-0 series lead.
Florida held McDavid scoreless in Game 6, but it didn't matter. Warren Foegele stepped up to open the scoring, burying a sweet saucer pass from Leon Draisaitl. Trade deadline pickup Adam Henrique put them up by two. Zach Hyman netted his 16th of the playoffs to make it 3-zip.
It was pretty much over after that. Aleksander Barkov got his Panthers on the board early in the third, but Skinner and his teammates shut the door. Two empty-netters later, the series was tied and heading back to Florida for the decisive Game 7 with the series momentum going the Oilers' way.
The Panthers can still win this thing. They still possess all those factors that got them to this Final in the first place. Like the Oilers in Game 4, they won't want to suffer the indignity of losing the Stanley Cup on home ice.
But the pressure is all on them now. And the weight of history.
It's been 82 years since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs became the first team in NHL history to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win Lord Stanley's mug.
The Oilers are poised to join them. We will witness them complete the greatest comeback in Stanley Cup playoff history.
Prediction: Oilers 4, Panthers 2
- Lyle Richardson
'Mamba Mentality' Will Carry Oilers to Cup Win
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This series was expected to be over last week.
The Florida Panthers, steamrollers of the Eastern Conference, jumped out to a 3-0 series lead. All we were waiting for was Sasha Barkov to get the Cup from ommissioner Gary Bettman.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Panthers' parade.
The Oilers shellacked Florida in Game 4. They held on in Game 5. And they mostly cruised in Game 6.
It helped when Connor McDavid erupted for eight points in Games 4 and 5. When the best player in the world decides to take over in the series, there isn't much you can do.
But it hasn't just been No. 97 in the past three games. The role players, from Warren Foegele to Adam Henrique to Connor Brown, have all stepped up three times with the series on the line. And if Leon Draisaitl continues to show signs of life in Game 7, that could be enough to push Edmonton over the top.
Speaking of Foegele, he's been rocking a t-shirt featuring Kobe Bryant wearing a Wayne Gretzky sweater ever since Game 4.
If coming back from 3-0 down to win a Cup isn't an example of Mamba Mentality, I don't know what is.
I had the Oilers winning in seven originally, I'm sticking with my pick.
Prediction: Oilers 3, Panthers 2
- Lucky Ngamwajasat
Oilers Handle Their Business
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This is the way the Oilers do business.
They take a game or two to find themselves, occasionally turn in a subpar performance (or two) in doing so, then right the ship and begin moving the results to their side of the ledger.
They split two home games with Los Angeles before winning three straight. They fell behind 3-2 against Vancouver before winning Game 6 at home and traveling to a foreboding building to finish things off. And they fell behind 2-1 to Dallas before winning three straight.
Was this time around more dire? Sure.
But Florida's their best opponent, too.
So, sure, it took awhile. But once the transition occurred, it was easy to see. Edmonton has had more offensive zone time, generated more high-danger chances and scored more goals in the last three games by a pretty significant margin.
And now that it's even, they're the more confident team. They're the team spending less time looking in the mirror and the team that's hearing a lot fewer whispers about history.
While it's true the Panthers are home, it's no less true that many other needles are pointing in the visitors' direction.
Put it all together and what it means for the Edmonton faithful is simple: Come Monday, it'll be all right. Stanley's coming home.
Prediction: Oilers 3, Panthers 1
- Lyle Fitzsimmons
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