Oilers' balanced attack forces Game 7

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CAN’T MISS HOCKEY NEWS 🎯

🤩 Oilers get scoring from all four lines, drop Panthers 5-1 to force Game 7 Monday night. The Oilers balanced attack started with Warren Foegele’s third goal of the postseason as the 28-year-old forward one-timed a Leon Draisaitl feed to the back of the net 7:27 into the first period for the 1-0 lead.

Adam Henrique wasted no time in the 2nd period, finishing a Mattias Janmark pass left post-and-in just 46 seconds into the period for his 4th of the playoffs and 2nd of the Finals.

Panthers’ captain Aleksander Barkov scored just 10 seconds later to cut the Oilers lead to 2-1 but ultimately had the goal disallowed due to an offsides on the play.

The Panthers carried the play most of the 2nd period, outshooting the Oilers 11 to 4 in the middle frame, but Zach Hyman buried a beautiful breakaway tally with just 1:40 remaining in the period thanks to a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shot block to extend the Oilers’ lead to 3-0.

Barkov finally got the Panthers on the board 1:28 into the 3rd period with the prettiest goal of the game to keep the Panthers’ Game 6 hopes alive.

But Ryan McLeod’s empty-netter at 16:45 of the final frame, which was quickly followed up by Darnell Nurse’s empty-netter 12 seconds later, put the game far out of the Panthers’ reach.

Stuart Skinner made 20 saves for a .952 save percentage and collected an assist on Nurse’s goal, becoming the first goalie in NHL history to get a point when facing elimination in the Final.

Game 7 will be played on Monday at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida. This will be the first Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final to feature a team rallying from a 3-0 deficit in 79 years as the Oilers aim to become the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Cup after trailing 3-0 in the Final.

ICYMI 🔄

The Washington Capitals acquired 25-year-old forward Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings for netminder Darcy Kuemper.

Since being drafted 3rd overall in the 2016 NHL Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dubois has scored 145 goals and collected 197 apples for 342 points in 516 career games between the Blue Jackets, Jets, and Kings. Last season, his first with the Kings after being acquired from the Jets in an offseason trade and signing an 8-year $68M contract, he posted 16 goals and 24 assists for 40 points in 82 games.

And if you haven’t seen it before, I strongly encourage you to watch Dubois’ incredible feat of effort during his last shift as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets. 🤣

Darcy Kuemper has a career GAA of 2.61, .914 save percentage, 31 shutouts and 178 wins in his 389-game NHL career. The Saskatoon-native was 13-14-3 last season with the Caps, collecting a 2.61 GAA and .890 save percentage. The 34-year-old veteran netminder is signed through the 2026-27 season carrying a $5.25M cap hit. Read more →

POLL 🗳️

QUICK HITS ⚡️

• Knoblauch, Oilers successfully challenge for offside, wiping out apparent Panthers goal (TSN)

• New Jersey Devils Acquire Jacob Markstrom From Calgary Flames (The Hockey News)

• Penguins re-sign goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to a 2-year contract (AP News)

• Mark Giordano will play 'a few more years,' agent says (theScore)

• Andrew Cogliano retires after 17 NHL seasons, to join Avalanche front office (NHL.com)

• Draft survey: Prospects talk NHL comps, Uber ratings, trash talk, and more (theScore)

COACHES CORNER 🏒

• Great series of simple drills to work on your stops and starts (Cathy & Cameron Andrade)

• 2 off-ice exercises to increase on-ice explosiveness and speed (Babak Owen)

TRIVIA 🧠