The Edmonton Oilers have gotten the Stanley Cup Final back on serve.
Led by Connor McDavid, they have outscored the Florida Panthers, 13-4, in the last two contests and now have the opportunity to force a Game 7 after trailing 3-0.
The betting market views Friday’s Game 6 in Edmonton as essentially a coin flip — the Oilers are a nominal -120 favorite — but the hockey world seems to believe the momentum is with the Oilers after two legacy-raising performances from McDavid.
Still, you do have to wonder if the blueprint we saw in Game 5 is sustainable.
The Oilers got ahead on a shorthanded goal, added a couple of markers on the power play and were gifted an ugly one by Sergei Bobrovsky.
It is also worthy of noting that, after hardly putting a foot wrong this entire spring, the Panthers have come a bit unglued over the past two games.
Florida’s discipline has deserted it at perhaps the worst possible time and the Cats will need to get a grip on this game from the drop of the puck if they want to avoid the Game 7 pressure-cooker.
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This sets up to be a tight game and I’d expect the first 20 minutes to be quite cagey, with both teams trying to avoid making a big mistake and going behind early.
That puts plenty of value on the first period to end scoreless at +340.
THE PLAY: First period Under 0.5 goals (+340, FanDuel).