Which Stanley Cup Final series Edmonton Oilers will show up in Game 7? (2024)

Which Edmonton Oilers team will show up in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday?

Will it be the one from early on in this series, which fell behind 3-0 to the Florida Panthers while getting outscored 9-1 over the first eight periods?

Or the one from the back half of Round 4, which has rebounded to earn a 20-5 advantage in goal differential over the past 10 periods to tie it up 3-3?

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The law of inertia — if such a thing pertains to the sports realm — indicates it’s the Oilers who are carrying the momentum into Amerant Bank Arena, as they took flight to cover the 4,100 km to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, on the heels of a 5-1 win in Game 6 at Rogers Place one night earlier.

But Kris Knoblauch is leaving the science up to the scientists, as the Oilers head coach concentrates on how best to put the finishing touches on what could perhaps go down as the single greatest turnaround season in NHL history.

“I’m not sure really what to expect,” Knoblauch said via video conference.

“The first two games and the first two periods of the third game, we were very unfortunate not to score goals and a lot of that has to do with luck, a lot of that has to do with goaltending, but I thought we had enough scoring chances to put up more goals than we did.

“And there was only a certain amount of time where we were going to be held off the scoresheet for as long as we were. And that kind of changed at the end of Game 3. In the third period, we were able to score a couple goals there and it led to a huge outburst in Game 4.”

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An offensive onslaught, to be sure. One that saw the Oilers earn an 8-1 route in front of a rejuvenated home crowd that could all of a sudden act like their faith in the team never left in the first place. Not after being down 0-3 to the Panthers. And certainly not back when the team stumbled to a 3-9-1 start to the season before Knoblauch was ushered in to take over the messy situation that led to his predecessor, Jay Woodcroft’s firing.

But, like they say, winning can solve a lot of problems. And winning big helps everyone forget they ever existed in the first place.

“Now, did I think we had enough scoring chances to score eight? No,” Knoblauch said. “But I think things usually work out and we capitalized on more chances than we usually would in a typical situation like that.”

Key to score first

A win on Monday would fix everything.

And if these playoffs offered any indication, Edmonton’s best shot at victory lies in being the first to reach the scoreboard.

“Anytime you score first, one, it calms a lot of jitters,” Knoblauch said.

“It also forces the opposition to open things up a little bit more and maybe not play with as much defensive structure as they would like because they’re trying to get back in the game and forcing to score that next goal.

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“So, it kind of alleviates a little bit of pressure on your team. But I don’t know what the records are when one team scores first as opposed to the other, but it just definitely allows you to play your game.”

The Oilers are 3-1 in this series when scoring first, and 13-5 over the post-season. That compares to a 2-4 record when the opposition is first on the board.

But when it comes to having their backs up against the wall, the Oilers have scored first in every instance on the way to being 5-0 when facing elimination.

In games where their opponents are the ones on the ropes, the Oilers have also scored first in all three rounds, going 3-0 to advance at the first opportunity every time.

The thing is, Monday’s deciding Game 7 won’t be about scoring first, but scoring the most that counts in the end, as the Oilers look to lift the Stanley Cup for the first time in 34 years, and the Panthers look to avenge last year’s Stanley Cup Final defeat and win their first championship.

“Going into Game 7, both teams are going to be very desperate, hard-working. But sometimes when you are more desperate and you work harder, sometimes there’s more mistakes,” Knoblauch said. “Which, when there’s mistakes, that’s usually how the goal chances occur. So, going into Game 7, I can’t really expect what kind of game it’s going to be.

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“I just know that our players are going to be excited for it, loving the challenge. They’ve been enjoying this, the whole process.”

‘Very confident group’

Even being down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final, apparently, after having come back from trailing the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in a second-round showdown.

“We’ve been through some difficult times, we had two elimination games against Vancouver and I have a lot of confidence in our team on how they responded and played in those games,” Knoblauch said. “And when we got in the situation of being down 3-0 against Florida in this series, I saw a very confident group where there’s no panic, no desperation, just a very focused mentality.

“So, I like where our team is. I liked our team where they were when it was down 3-0 and I definitely like where they are now.”

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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