Eight weeks, 4 rounds, and two dozen video games after the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs started, the Edmonton Oilers are actually only one win away from the franchise’s sixth championship.
Edmonton takes on the host Florida Panthers at Amerant Financial institution Enviornment in Dawn on Monday in Recreation 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Remaining. The Oilers can change into the primary staff because the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 to hoist the NHL’s championship trophy after trailing 3-0 within the best-of-seven sequence.
The Oilers have captivated their metropolis, if not all of Canada and the complete hockey world, by taking followers on a thrill experience. Edmonton beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 within the first spherical, defeated the Vancouver Canucks in seven video games in Spherical 2, after which captured its first convention championship in 18 years with a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars.
Now, the Oilers have rallied with three straight victories towards Florida, outscoring the Panthers 18-5 over that span, to power a winner-take-all recreation that may finish with one staff in ecstasy and the opposite in agony.
Many superlative adjectives have been used to explain the Oilers’ journey: exceptional, unimaginable, wonderful, unparalleled, and so forth. None of those are inaccurate. There’s no such factor as hyperbole when speaking about one thing so uncommon as a 3-0 comeback.
Nonetheless, the essence of Edmonton’s Stanley Cup run can greatest be captured in three phrases which have change into very talked-about in Oil Nation.
“If Anybody Can Do it, it’s the Oil”
Stuart Skinner is an Edmontonian as a result of the Oilers netminder refers back to the staff as “The Oil,” a time period largely unique to native followers.
Born and raised within the metropolis the place he now performs, Skinner first used the time period as he spoke to reporters following Recreation 3 on June 13. Edmonton had simply misplaced 4-3 to Florida and now trailed within the sequence 3-0: “I’m not too certain what the stats are coming again (from being down 3-0), but when anybody can do it, it’s the Oil,” Skinner stated.
Following his good 29-save effort in Edmonton’s Recreation 5 triumph on June 18, throughout which he made a few huge saves late within the third interval with the Oilers clinging to a one-goal lead, Skinner was requested what the final two video games had proven about his squad. “You’ll be able to by no means depend the Oil out,” the 25-year-old netminder responded, utilizing the Edmonton vernacular once more.
Then, after the Oilers gained Recreation 6, Skinner doubled (or is that quadrupled?) down on his authentic assertion: “There’s only a actually sturdy feeling of perception with this complete group, and we’ve had it for a very long time now, and it doesn’t matter what state of affairs we put ourselves in, we at all times do have that perception, so me saying that felt regular.’
“I actually do consider on this group, and I’m sticking to these phrases: ‘If anybody can do it, it’s the Oil.’ We’ve obtained much more work to do right here, although,” stated Skinner, who stopped 20 of 21 photographs in Edmonton’s 5-1 win on Friday (June 21).
The Oilers battled again from trailing 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 of their second-round sequence towards Vancouver. They have been down 2-1 to Dallas within the Western Convention Remaining earlier than profitable three straight video games. Now, after profitable these three final contests towards the Panthers, Edmonton is 5-0 when going through elimination within the 2024 playoffs.
As for these stats that Skinner wasn’t too certain about? Solely 9 occasions in Stanley Cup Playoff historical past had a staff compelled Recreation 7 after falling behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven sequence. Now it’s 10.
“Drag Them Again to Alberta”
After dropping the primary three video games of the Stanley Cup Remaining, Edmonton blasted the Panthers 8-1 at Rogers Place on June 15, thus chopping Florida’s sequence result in 3-1 and forcing a Recreation 5 in Dawn.
Edmonton led 2-0 earlier than the sport was eight minutes outdated, went forward 6-1 within the second interval, and by the point the third interval rolled round, Rogers Place was in social gathering mode.
Connor McDavid had a giant night time in Recreation 4, with a purpose and three assists to steer his staff to victory. However the Oilers captain had no thoughts for celebrating. At the post-game press convention, he was requested whether or not erupting for eight targets had modified how the Oilers felt in regards to the sequence.
“No, I don’t assume so,” McDavid responded. “It’s only one win, that’s all it’s. It doesn’t matter if you happen to rating eight otherwise you rating one. It’s only one win, and we obtained to go to Florida and do a job and drag them again to Alberta.”
These final 5 phrases have been clipped and replayed throughout media endlessly over the following couple of days main as much as Recreation 5. They grew to become the rallying cry for Oilers followers, and even McDavid’s teammates picked up on it, with Oilers ahead Connor Brown telling reporters, “We’re gonna attempt to drag ‘em again to Alberta” throughout pre-game media availability.
Brown gave the Oilers an early lead in Recreation 5, scoring short-handed simply 5:30 into the primary interval, and McDavid introduced them residence, scoring into an empty web with 19 seconds remaining to seal a 5-3 win.
McDavid completed the night time with two targets and two assists, changing into the primary participant in Stanley Cup Remaining historical past with consecutive four-point video games, as he accomplished his job to tug the Panthers again to Edmonton for Recreation 6.
“Play La Bamba, Child”
They’ve been saying it for Edmonton for years, however “Play La Bamba, Child” has solely change into well-known throughout the NHL through the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Oilers began taking part in “La Bamba” by Ritchie Valens to have fun every residence victory, as a tribute to Joey Moss, after their longtime locker room attendant handed away in 2020.
“La Bamba” was a favorite track of the broadly beloved Moss, who was across the Oilers for the higher a part of 4 a long time. Born with Down Syndrome, Moss served as an inspiration, and his zest for all times was infectious.
Later, a video of five-year-old Oilers fan Ben Stelter saying, “Play La Bamba, child,” went viral. Stelter had been recognized with glioblastoma, a type of mind most cancers, two months earlier than his fifth birthday.
Associated: A Tribute to Edmonton Oilers Superfan Ben Stelter
Edmonton’s gamers befriended Stelter, who frolicked across the staff. Identical to Moss, the brave teenager was a tremendously inspiring individual with an infectious spirit. Stelter handed away at age six in 2022, having profoundly impacted Oil Nation.
After Dallas beat Edmonton in Recreation 2 of the Western Convention Remaining on Could 25, Stars DJ Jonathon Shipman trolled the Oilers by taking part in “La Bamba” at American Airways Middle. The DJ was unaware of the importance of the track and, after studying of it, issued a heartfelt apology. In a gesture of goodwill, Shipman donated to the Ben Stelter Basis, as did many beneficiant Stars followers.
The Oilers have performed “La Bamba” 15 occasions thus far this postseason. Can they cue it up yet another time in South Florida on Monday night time?
