Luke Fox SPORTSNET
EDMONTON — Two high-powered dramas are unfolding in real time on the grandest stage.
In one corner, you have the believers: The Edmonton Oilers, whose attempt to complete just the second reverse-sweep in a championship series in the history of major North American pro sports is so romantic, Disney might turn down the script for being a little too rich. In the other corner, you have the shook: The Florida Panthers, staring directly into the abyss, facing the calibre of missed opportunity that could well haunt a man his entire life. General manager Bill Zito has switched from launching water bottles to delivering death stares so chilling, they could burn a hole through Stuart Skinner — except, the way he's going, the goalie would probably get a blocker on it.
Head coach Paul Maurice is hollering at officials and tightening his answers to the media, noting facetiously that he has "the opportunity to meet with you people five more times before the next game."
And fading star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, he of three consecutive losses and three consecutive sub-.845-save-percentage efforts, is... well, who knows? Because the Panthers are sheltering a major character in this drama from the microphones and cameras. Four cracks at glory have shrivelled to one. After another rocking party for the home crowd Friday night at Rogers Place, where the Oilers thumped the Panthers 5-1 (with two empty-netters), a tightening is afoot. And not just in the 3-3 series count, which will give sports fans a best-of-one Monday in Sunrise. Silent and glassy-eyed, the Panthers cycled off some lactic acid and walked out of the rink from Game 6. “It’s tough. Obviously, a tough one to take," said Carter Verhaeghe, who said the right words. “I think we’re a confident group. They’re here for a reason, we’re here for a reason, and, I mean, it’s the Stanley Cup Final. They’re a really good team, and it’s for us to come back and respond next game.” Absolutely, the Panthers are capable of just that. Of making this column moot. Win in seven, and they'll be immortalised. We'll celebrate their mental fortitude and wait for the Stanley Cup to wind its way down the A1A to the Elbo Room. Lose four in a row — which is something these Panthers did in January and March — and they'll be immortalised as well. Most of our parents weren't alive to witness history's only collapse of this calibre: The 1942 Detroit Red Wings blew a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final to the Toronto Maple Leafs (Gods). How can the weight of the opportunity to lose not worm its way into players and coaches' minds, and take up space where the opportunity to win was the only thought eight days ago — before the Stanley Cup's airmiles began piling up like an Albertan 50/50 draw total? "Well, right now, if you walked into the room, there won’t be a lot of happy people," Maurice said. "I’m not worried about what it does tonight. It doesn’t have to be right tonight.
"You’ve suffered a defeat. You feel it. It hurts. You lick your wounds, and we start building that back tomorrow. But who you are tonight means nothing to who you’re going to be two days from now."
Who the Panthers were on Friday won't cut it. For the third straight game, they gave up the first goal and got chasing. Their power-play is in shambles. And as Edmonton has earned an edge in middle ice, Florida's first shot on goal by a forward didn't arrive until the contest was 31 minutes old. They also had their potential comeback moment thwarted by a painfully close off-side challenge by Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, as a perceived, crowd-quieting Aleksander Barkov goal was wiped of the board in Period 2. Maurice was livid in the moment, maintaining that none of the angles available to his bench showed Sam Reinhart a sliver off-side. "The linesperson (WTF!?!) informed me that it was the last clip that they got where they made the decision that shows it’s off-side. I don’t have those," Maurice said, during his longest post-game answer. "I was upset after the call based on what I see at my feet, what my video person looks at. There was no way I would’ve challenged that if it was reversed. There was no way I thought you could conclusively say that was off-side. "I don’t know what the Oilers get; I don’t know what the league gets. I just know that when I would’ve had to have challenged that based on what I saw, I would not have challenged. I’m not saying it's not off-side. We’ll get still frames, bring in the CIA, we’ll figure it out. But in the 30 seconds that I would’ve made that call, I would not have challenged." In an alternate universe, perhaps Barkov's goal stands and the Panthers rally. But in this universe, Florida is facing its first elimination game of these playoffs. And the first time in 82 years that a hockey team could unravel in such spectacular fashion. “We’re going home to play a Game 7 for the Stanley Cup Final. I think any time you do that, everyone’s going to be jacked up and excited, and it’s going to be an awesome game," Verhaeghe said. "You dream of it as a little kid.” Little kids also have nightmares. ![]()
Move over Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, there is a new playoff goal leader among active players.
With his breakaway goal in the second period of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday, Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman not only gave his team a 3-0 lead, but also set a new mark for most goals in a single post-season among active players with his 16th of the playoffs. Ovechkin (2018) and Crosby (2009) each had 15 goals one post-season, but have now been outdone by the 32-year-old Hyman. The all-time record for goals in a single post-season is held by Reggie Leach, who scored 19 goals in just 16 games during the 1976 playoffs with the Philadelphia Flyers.
In the last 30 years, only Joe Sakic (18) and Pavel Bure (16) have scored as many goals in the playoffs. Hyman finished the regular season with a career-high 54 goals, good for third-best in the league. With his 16 in the playoffs, Hyman has now tied Toronto Maple Leafs forward and former team mate Auston Matthews for the most combined regular season and playoff goals with 70.
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