After twice rising from the dead this year, the Oilers let history slip through their outstretched fingers Monday in a heartbreaking 2-1 Game 7 defeat
It’s all over.
They got their fingers over the edge and almost pulled themselves up, but the Florida Panthers stomped their hands and sealed their fate.
After twice rising from the dead this year — from 31st place in the standings and from 3-0 down in the Stanley Cup Final — the Oilers let history slip through their outstretched fingers Monday in a heartbreaking 2-1 Game 7 defeat.
It would have been the most incredible National Hockey League triumph of all time. Instead, while Matthew Tkachuk and the Panthers celebrated at centre ice, the Oilers and everyone in Edmonton struggled to process the result.
They were all certain this journey would end another way after the Oilers seemed to be pulling away with the series, winning 8-1, 5-3 and 5-1 in Games 4, 5 and 6.
But Game 7 on the road against a team desperate to avoid one of the biggest collapses in sports history was the bridge too far. The Panthers drew one last line in the Florida sand and refused to budge.
Florida scored first, lead 2-1 at the second intermission and kept the frantic Oilers at bay for the final 20 minutes.
So Edmonton’s trip to the Stanley Cup Final ends without a trophy, just a silver lining (that is of absolutely no consolation right now), that this was a hell of a season and a hell of a run.
They had best penalty killing in the playoffs, the best power play in the playoffs and their toughness and resilience got them one game away from being etched in Stanley Cup lore forever.
When a team loses 10 of its first 12 games and sinks to the bottom of the standings, it’s not supposed to be sitting there in January wondering what all the fuss was about.
When it falls behind 3-2 to Vancouver, 2-1 to Dallas and 3-0 to Florida, it’s not supposed to march its way a Game 7.
But those were the Oilers.
Before Monday night, they faced elimination five times and went 5-0. They had the other team facing elimination three times and went 3-0.
But on the one night they needed, they found themselves on the wrong side of the razor’s edge.
There is a lot they’ll be able to look back on and be extremely proud of, but for every player in Edmonton’s room who never wins a Stanley Cup, and it might be all of them, for all we know, the sense of loss will never go away.
This was the most successful season in the McDavid-Draisaitl era and it hurts the worst. More than missing the playoffs, more than being knocked out in the first, second or third round.
To battle so hard for two months and have everything they’ve dreamed of in this game since they were eight years old held in front of them and then yanked away the final day of the season is tough. Especially given the road they took to get here.
And what happens next year is anyone’s guess.
Is this the last and final growing pain before the Oilers get to where Florida is? It’s an easy narrative, but nothing is guaranteed in hockey. It might be a long time before they ever get this close again.
Nobody knows that better than the Oilers.
