Forcing Game 7 will be easier said than done for the Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers will face the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final Tuesday night, hoping to extend their series to a Game 7, winner-take-all matchup like they had in 2024.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss Game 6 and if the Oilers can keep their season alive, or if the Panthers will clinch their second straight championship.

Frank Seravalli: A key differentiator between these two teams has been the goaltending. The Oilers are trying to become the first team since the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins to win the Stanley Cup with a goals against average above three. That’s a significant headwind for this team going forward.

It starts with one game, one night, where you need a Mark Messier-like night from Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl to put the team on their back and get to an all-deciding Game 7.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Last year, the first time the Panthers had a chance to eliminate the Oilers, it was an 8-1 blowout. You could talk about how this Oilers team showed a ton of resiliency, being pushed against the wall and to the brink of elimination isn’t going to rattle them. You could also look at it and think, “Florida isn’t the type of team who will let their foot off the gas any time soon.”

I don’t think Game 6 will be a blowout either way, it will come down to a bounce ro two, but I don’t think you can look to last year and think they can rattle off a couple wins, because Florida deserves a ton of credit.

Frank Seravalli: It’s not going to be easy at all, because when you go into an elimination game for the Cup, the team who is about to win feels those same nerves that you feel. The Panthers know how close they were last year, and having lost it the previous year. But having won a Cup, it takes a ton of pressure off of them to win it again on home ice to save themselves 12 more hours on a plane to go back to Alberta.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…