There’s an Epic Stanley Cup Game 7 Tonight. Here’s My Survival Guide.

Down three games to zero, Edmonton has crawled back, Florida is on the verge of an epic disaster…and Canadians have complicated feelings

Connor McDavid, left, chats with Matthew Tkachuk during the Stanley Cup Finals. BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES

By Jason GayFollow

June 24, 2024 at 11:12 am ET

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There’s a Game 7 tonight (8 p.m. ET) in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals and there’s nothing better: a do-or-die climax for the planet’s most unpredictable and proudly bonkers sport.  

This Final is especially bonkers, because it looked good and over a week ago. The Florida Panthers were cruising with a mighty 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. The Edmonton Oilers were skating listlessly in circles, ready to go home, flop into bed and eat microwaved broccoli dinosaurs and cheese sticks. 

Now it’s tied. Only once in hockey history has a team come back to win a Stanley Cup after being down three games to none—in 1942, when the Toronto Maple Leafs roared back to stun Detroit. That was back when hockey was played without helmets and they let an angry moose roam around the ice.

It hasn’t happened since. And while Game 7s are almost always wild entertainment, the roller coaster drama makes this one especially compelling. If you haven’t watched a hockey game all year—or in all of your life—I’d hoard some Labatts and Timbits and tune in. 

Fans celebrate after the Oilers’ win in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. PHOTO: AMBER BRACKEN/REUTERS

Some survival tips for a Game 7:

• 1. Watch alone. Nothing against a watch party—I’m just saying you might be more comfortable viewing this game by yourself. Hockey Game 7s are stressful dramas—you’re anxious, pacing, twitching, sweating, cursing, curling into a little ball on the carpet, banging your head against furniture, folding all your laundry, messing it up, then refolding it again, opening the windows and yelling at the squirrels and the moon. You may not want to do that in a group. It would be awkward at a bar. Best thing to lock yourself in the basement and remove all the furniture except for a minifridge and a beanbag chair.

• 2. Tell your neighbors you aren’t dying, you are just watching a Game 7.Self explanatory, but maybe it’s best if you knock on doors and alert them pregame, in case they wonder about all the screaming and sobbing.
• 3. Prepare for the long haul. Hockey is a sport forever topping itself in the Can-You-Believe-This category. Overtimes are frequent. Double and triple overtimes happen. Fatigue sets in. Exhausted players fall asleep on their skates. It’s possible we’re here in September, wondering when the Panthers and Oilers—now with playoff beards the length of telephone poles—will finish this game.
• 4. Don’t bother your Panthers friends tonight. Leave them alone. They’re currently hiding in the closet under a pile of wet beach towels. Just days ago they were getting ready for a palm tree parade, and now they’re sixty minutes from eternal infamy. Blow a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals? The Panthers are a pub trivia answer waiting to happen. No sports fan should endure this kind of soul-crushing torment, except New York sports fans. So have a little empathy for South Floridians. They’re going through a lot, and if you want them to invite you down to visit next winter, you better not give them any grief. 
• 5. Your Canadian pals also have complicated feelings. A Canada-based NHL team hasn’t won a Stanley Cup since 1993, an embarrassing drought for the hockey-mad country. Edmonton is on the verge of breaking through, but it isn’t like the entire nation has fallen in line behind them. Rivalries persist. Do you think Calgary Flames fans are pumped to go celebrate at an Oilers parade? They’ll rather join the Panthers fans under that pile of wet beach towels.
• 6. Watch Connor McDavid. The Edmonton captain is the most electric talent in the NHL, a superstar of superstars, with the ability to dictate the action like no other player. Even when he’s not scoring or adding assists, he is such a threat it opens up opportunities for teammates. That’s what’s happened in this series—McDavid got going, and so did the Oilers, who look like a re-energized team. Then, between periods, pass the time with a look at Casa McDavid’s sleek spread in Architectural Digest. 
• 7. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. Edmonton’s soaring, Florida’s sinking, but hockey historically laughs at the notion of momentum. The Panthers have home ice, but does home ice mean anything at this point? Will Florida lean into the fold? Will the Oilers shrink at the moment? That’s why this is the best. That’s why you need to alert the neighbors. Prepare the beanbag chair.

Write to Jason Gay at Jason.Gay@wsj.com

Source: Wall Street Journal