4:3 win in Edmonton

Florida one win away from its first NHL title

(Bild: AP/JASON FRANSON)

The Florida Panthers are on the verge of winning their first championship in the North American Ice Hockey League (NHL). The team from the Sunshine State also won the third final game for the Stanley Cup against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. 

After two home wins, the Panthers also prevailed 4:3 in the first away game. Florida now only needs one more win. The fourth final game will take place in Canada again on Sunday night.

The decisive factor was the middle third, when the Panthers pulled away from 1:1 to 4:1 in just over six minutes. They took advantage of a mistake by the Oilers three times. Vladimir Tarassenko's 2:1 was the result of an unfortunate trip by Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner behind his own net. Sam Bennett made it 3-1 after Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse lost the puck. The 4:1, scored by Florida's Finnish captain Aleksander Barkov, was the result of an ice-cold counterattack by the hosts, who had moved too far back.

Edmonton reduced the deficit to 3:4 with five minutes remaining, bringing the atmosphere in the arena to a boil. But that was as close as the Canadians got, not least because Florida goalie Sergei Bobrowski saved everything. The Russian ended up with 32 saves.

Oilers need a miracle
The Oilers, led by their star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, now need a major miracle to lift the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1990 and for the sixth time overall. In the history of the NHL, only the Toronto Maple Leafs managed to triumph in 1942 after being down 3-0 in the series. The team that won the first three games won 27 times. The last time there was a sweep (4-0 win) in a Stanley Cup Final was in 1998.