Good for Edmonton 👍👍. It'll be a real shame doing what they've ( Edmonton ) up until now only to blow it in game 7. I thought the Oilers were done in gm 5. Boy was I wrong lol. Happy to be wrong in this case. You just know that Florida is gonna come out in a rage game 7. Can you see Florida going down 4 straight? That's the question..
McDavid and Draisaitl are far too good not to have their names edged on the Stanley cup. Can't ignore those 2.
I'm not nearly so convinced that Florida will get their heads right and win game 7. "Momentum" is not what I'd call it, just psychology.
Edmonton going through that series with Vancouver, all nervy tough games, and after I figured that would mean the Oilers wouud overmatch Dallas, and they did.
So then Edmonton drops 3 in a row, what was that - tiredness? Injury? No. Maybe the problem is they relaxed, told themselves "no worries, we got this", so instead it got them.
Complacency is the killer, always. Even letting it creep in to put you off your game just 1% is enough to lose.
So, then Florida had Edmonton's head in the guillotine, and Edmonton wriggled free of it in game 4, pure desperation, but maybe that is what was needed to fight back hard enough, because they blew Florida right off the ice.
The Panthers tell themselves "Fine - it's just one game, they're too talented to get swept, so let them have it. We'll get the next one".
Soon as Florida failed to smarten the fuck up again in game 5, they and their coach still telling themselves "don't worry, plenty of breathing room left, we got this" - so I knew they'd lose game 6 too.
My guess is now the Panthers probably complete the collapse in their own building by losing game 7.
Why?
Edmonton can now says they redeemed themselves, and play like the first three games never even happened - as if they dominated the Panthers the whole time (not escaped death 3 times).
But the Panthers are coming off three games that are already haunting them. They were complacent, they failed to confirm the kill 3 times in a row, because they (players and coach) kept telling themselves "no worries, we've got this, still plenty of breathing space".
And now that breathing space is gone, complacency replaced by the suffocating feeling of guilt and panic. Nobody will count those 3 wins they got at the start, and say "well, 3 wins 4 losses is not bad".
No matter what they say on camera, they have to know that if they lose, they will be legendary losers, worse than if they got swept. They will be wearing a bag over their heads the rest of their careers. Their wives will leave them. Their kids will get paternity tests hoping that it proves they're bastards.
So I do not consider this a coin flip - even though on paper the Panthers have technically as much chance to win this thing as the Oilers do. It's not about momentum, it's about morale.
The Oilers' test of character was game 4 and 5 - proving they were not just lucky to be there at all. They passed.
The Panthers' test of character is to reset their troubled minds, and play like a winning team should with only one game to decide it all, and not like one that walked in swaggering but will crawl out weeping.