Draisaitl requires a momentous rebound.
Stanley-Cup dreams appear to be broken: Hockey pro Leon Draisaitl and his Edmonton Oilers lost the third game in the NHL finals, leaving them in need of a minor miracle to win. This has happened before in the history of competitions.
For Leon Draisaitl, the dream of Stanley Cup glory is now farther away than ever. Along with the Edmonton Oilers, the German ice hockey player lost the third NHL final game to the Florida Panthers, resulting in a 0:3 deficit in the Best-of-seven series. Just one team in the past has managed to overcome a similar deficit in the Stanley Cup final, the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 against the Detroit Red Wings.
On Sunday night (MEZ), in the Oilers' second home game, Florida secured their first championship. Draisaitl went scoreless in the third game of the Stanley Cup final and was on the ice for a goal against. Edmonton trailed from the beginning and failed to make a comeback attempt in the third period.
Sam Reinhard's (19th) goal was answered by Warren Foegele's (22nd), but Wladimir Tarasenko (30th), Sam Bennett (34th), and Aleksander Barkov (36th) scored three goals in just six minutes to secure the victory for Florida. Philip Broberg (47th) and Ryan McLeod (55th) brought Edmonton back into the game during the third period.
Draisaitl has the opportunity to help the Oilers achieve their first victory since 1990 and the first for a Canadian team since 1993. However, like many times in recent history, Edmonton is once again teetering on the edge of failure before achieving their ultimate goal. Only four times in NHL playoff history has a 0:3 deficit been overturned, the last occurrence being in 2014 by the Los Angeles Kings.
Read also:
Despite losing the third game in the NHL finals, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers still have hope, as only four teams in NHL playoff history have overcome a 0-3 deficit. Despite Draisaitl going scoreless in the third Stanley Cup final game, his team will need him to be at his best if they are to achieve their Stanley Cup dream, as they did in the 1990 season, the last time a Canadian team won the trophy.
