We were wrong, even when we thought we were going to be right! We love it when this happens, believe it or not—especially when it’s hockey. On Monday night, in Surprise, FL, the Stanley Cup Finals will come to an end, finally, on June 24, as the Florida Panthers try to defend home ice against the hard-charging Edmonton Oilers. The latter’s charge back from an 0-3 deficit has been stunning to watch, and now … this.

The greatest moment in sports is upon us: a Stanley Cup Finals Game 7.

Sure, both baseball and basketball can have a Game 7 in the final championship round, but hockey is different for a number of reasons. The primary reason for a Stanley Cup Game 7 being the best thing ever is the potential for a sudden-death overtime scenario. In baseball, both teams get equal opportunity to win in extra innings, like we saw in 1997 and 2016, for example. In basketball, the overtime session is equal, too.

The 1957 Finals and the 1962 Finals were both decided in an overtime Game 7, but that was so long ago. Imagine the mayhem today if it happened in the NBA! And then quadruple the excitement for the insanity of sudden-death, next-goal-wins NHL madness. Truth is it hasn’t happened in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1954, either, but just the promise of it gets our collective hearts pumping quite rapidly. But this year …

Is loaded with excitement for multiple reasons beyond the potential of sudden-death overtime hockey. The Oilers are trying to come back from the historic 0-3 deficit like the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs did—and the 1945 Detroit Red Wings failed to do. The storylines are myriad here, and we love that. Toss in the fact that a Canadian team has not won the Stanley Cup since 1993, and it adds an additional layer of anticipation.

We wrote about this kind of pressure on Edmonton in our Finals preview: we didn’t think they’d be able to handle it. Imagine the weight of a nation on your shoulders! But now, all the pressure is on the Florida Panthers to not choke historically like those 1942 Red Wings did—or the 2004 New York Yankees, for that matter. So, yes, there are layers to peel back here in the onion that has become the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals.

Here’s the factual history:

  • Home teams in the Stanley Cup Finals, Game 7, have am 11-5 record overall;
  • The prior two times (noted above) that a team came back from an 0-3 deficit in the Finals to force Game 7, the results were split;
  • The kicker is that this has never happened before in this same way, with the 3-0 start and the 0-3 crash for a team with home ice in Games 1, 2, 5, and 7.

Either way, history will be made on Monday night. We suggest you tune in and watch. Florida is favored, as the Panthers should be, mathematically. But obviously, that doesn’t mean shit now, does it? We noted we would be invested emotionally in Edmonton’s fate, for the Canadian reasons. That hasn’t changed, but neither has the math, despite the Oilers’ 22-16 scoring advantage through 6 games. Let the mayhem ensue!