Another defeat for the Oilers
Draisaitl now needs a historic comeback
14.06.2024, 06:31 a.m.
The dream of winning the Stanley Cup seems to be over: ice hockey pro Leon Draisaitl has lost his third game in the NHL finals, and his Edmonton Oilers now need a small miracle. This has only happened once in the long history of the competition.
For Leon Draisaitl, the dream of the Stanley Cup has become a distant dream. With the Edmonton Oilers, the German ice hockey star lost the third NHL final game against the Florida Panthers 3:4, conceding what was probably the decisive 0:3 in the best-of-seven series. So far, only one team has been able to turn around such a deficit in the Stanley Cup final, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who overturned a 0:3 defeat against the Detroit Red Wings in 1942.
Last year’s finalist Florida could secure the title for the first time in the Oilers’ second home game on Sunday night (CET). Draisaitl remained without a point in the third game of the final series and was also on the ice when a goal was conceded. Edmonton was behind from the start at Rodgers Place and was not rewarded for catching up in the final third.
Warren Foegele (22) was able to equalize Sam Reinhard’s goal (19th), before Vladimir Tarasenko (30th), Sam Bennett (34th) and Aleksander Barkow (36th) decided the game for Florida within six minutes. Philip Broberg (47th) and Ryan McLeod (55th) brought Edmonton closer in the final third.
Draisaitl has the chance to win the Oilers’ first victory since 1990 and the first for a Canadian team since 1993. But as has happened so often in the recent past, Edmonton is in danger of failing just before reaching its big goal. They have only turned around a 0-3 deficit in the NHL playoffs four times, most recently in 2014 by the Los Angeles Kings.