June 26, 2024 by Bob Schmidt

On a Monday night in Florida, the stage was set for what every hockey player has dreamed about at one point in their lives. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Edmonton Oilers had defied the odds by being only the sixth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the Final to knot it up at 3-3, and were on the cusp of becoming only the second team ever to complete the reverse sweep. The Florida Panthers were desperate to not be that team on the wrong side of history and set the tone by scoring the ever important first goal of the game.

Six seconds after Warren Foegele stepped back on the ice after serving a high-sticking minor, Panther forward, Carter Verhaeghe, was left all alone in front of the Oiler net and deftly tipped an Evan Rodrigues shot between the legs of Stuart Skinner for his eleventh goal of the playoffs to make it 1-0. Just over two minutes later, the Oilers responded when Cody Ceci made an astounding two zone pass to a streaking Mattias Janmark who stuffed the puck in between the blocker and pad of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game.

The Oilers had a couple of impressive sustained pressure shifts late in the second period but it was after a near miss in the Panther zone that the home team transitioned up the ice and Sam Reinhart fired a partially screened shot through Skinner that gave Florida their second lead of the game and one they wouldn’t relinquish this time. With some strong defensive work and a couple of big Bobrovsky saves, the Panthers held on to win their first-ever Stanley Cup.

Call Outs

It was Ryan McLeod’s failed clearing attempt and then his inability to get to the point man and apply pressure, that led to the Panthers first goal. A little later in the first period, an eerily similar mistake was made by the Oiler forward that led to another scoring chance against. It was a rough playoffs for the young speedster but definitely not from lack of effort. Not to place blame for the partially screened game winning goal on netminder Stuart Skinner but, speaking from experience, any time the puck squeaks through you between your arm and body, it’s one you think you should have had.

Stand outs

Mattias Janmark has proven his worth these playoffs time and time again and he did it once more on the world’s biggest hockey stage. It wasn’t just the breakaway goal to tie the game as mentioned earlier, but also his 1:56 of excellent penalty killing and his relentless forecheck that saw him disrupt a couple of Panther breakout passes. The eight-year veteran has had a penchant for scoring timely goals this post season. Janmark scored four goals all regular season and matched that total in the playoffs. Talk about stepping up your game. I would be remised to not mention Ceci’s pass on that Janmark goal as a stand out moment in this game as well.

Shoutouts

Connor McDavid’s 42 points in the 2024 playoffs, is the fourth-highest single-playoff point total in NHL history and helped propel him to claim the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs. Evan Bouchard’s 32 points is the third-most points by a defenceman in a single-playoff in NHL history. Zach Hyman’s 16 goals tied him with Craig Simpson for the third-most goals in a single-playoff in franchise history.

The penalty killing duo of Janmark and Connor Brown was another storyline this post season. Not only did they contribute to the Oilers league leading 94.3% penalty kill with their strong defensive play, but the formidable duo became a short-handed scoring threat as well as they combined for all three of the team’s short-handed goals. The emergence of Philip Broberg as an everyday and dependable defenceman was a revelation as well. After producing only two assists and being a minus three in twelve regular season games this season, the former eighth-overall draft pick was sent down to the Oilers minor league affiliate in Bakersfield to work on his game.

Broberg was called back up to be a reserve defenceman during Edmonton’s playoff run. The 22-year-old Swede found himself in the lineup for game four in the series against the Dallas Stars with the Oilers down two games to one. He responded by scoring two goals for three points and going plus eight (good for fifth on the team) over the remaining ten games. Head coach, Kris Knoblauch, showed his growing confidence in the smooth skating rear guard by giving him an average ice time of four more minutes per game in the playoffs than Broberg averaged during the regular season. He also saw some penalty kill time.

Wrap

As heartbreaking as to lose in Game 7, there are so many positives to take from the Oilers’ 2024 playoff run. The ongoing theme that resonated throughout this entire season for this team was resiliency. From 31st overall in November to falling behind in three of the four playoff series to bouncing back from a seemingly insurmountable series deficit in the Final to making it a one-game-winner-takes-all showdown for the hockey’s ultimate prize, the resiliency of the 2023-24 edition of the Edmonton Oilers can never be questioned.

Thanks for the ride, boys. Enjoy the off season. The fans in Oil Country are already excited to see what you can take from this experience and bring into 2024-25!