FEATURE: Oilers ready to continue laying it on the line in Game 7 to lift Stanley Cup

SUNRISE, FL – Backs against the wall, you can never count the Oil out.

With nothing but belief and trust in each guy sitting next to them, the days since Head Coach Kris Knoblauch uttered his excitement for the final 10 days of the Oilers' season – even despite his team trailing 3-0 to the Panthers before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final – have slowly ticked down to the day they all expected to reach at the beginning of the year.

Ten, nine, eight…

Seven, six, five…

Four, three, two…

Finally, on Monday night, the count will be down to one when Game 7 arrives at Amerant Bank Arena in Florida, and it's all a result of Edmonton's never-say-die attitude and togetherness that's been there from the beginning, even in the face of all the adversity they've experienced this season, helping guide them to the precipice of this potentially once-in-a-lifetime chance at etching their names on the Stanley Cup.

Cherish the moment, embrace the opportunity, and cement your legacy.

"This could be half these guys' last chance at a Stanley Cup and it could be the last time they're in the Stanley Cup Final," said Corey Perry, a five-time competitor in the Final with five different NHL teams. "It took me 12 years. It took Rico 12 years to get back. Those things don't come around each and every day and we're having fun with it. That's all we can do – just enjoy it."

"We've got ourselves back to a great position and now we're down to two. These are the fun ones that you dream about."

"It's been pretty fun. we're just enjoying it," Adam Henrique added. "There were ten days left in the season and now there's two, and tomorrow will be the last day. That's it. So we're just trying to take it all in, enjoy being around the guys, coming in the room and putting in the work, and that continued fun and belief in each other.

"It has been a lot of fun coming in the rink every day."

Despite everything that's been thrown at them dating back to their 2-9-1 start to the 2023-24 regular season – along with facing multiple elimination scenarios in Rounds 2 & 3 and what most thought would be an insurmountable three-game deficit in the Stanley Cup Final – there’s been one goal driving the Oilers toward what would be a historic and unprecedented reverse sweep of the Panthers to earn the club its sixth title in franchise history:

Win the last game of the season and leave a lasting legacy together as teammates.

"We've been enjoying this ride and it's been a long year," Knoblauch said. "I think players have had their backs up against walls since November, for a couple of playoff series – definitely the last two and three or four games here – but our goal is to win our last game of the season.

"I think there's 32 teams in the NHL that want the last game to be a victory, and if you ask any team after it's done, they're disappointed when they don't win that last game. So we want to win the last game."

Because of that steadfast belief and purpose of trying to be better each day, trying to stack just one win on top of the next, the Blue & Orange are just 60 minutes away from accomplishing that goal after participating in one final practice on Sunday at Amerant Bank Arena before they put everything out there one last time on Monday in what will be a historic Game 7 to decide the 2024 Stanley Cup.

“I think we've had a lot of success this year,” Knoblauch said. “We go back to Nov. 23 or whatever day it was, we were in Washington. We did some goal-setting, and then we shortened our season and we broke it into eight-game segments. But ultimately, what we wanted to do was just take one day at a time.

“We've got two days left of our season. Tomorrow will be the last day. We're just trying to enjoy it and make the most out of it.”

After Sunday's final practice concluded, Perry skated around the stretch circle of the Oilers and tapped every player on the back in an acknowledgement of how far they've come, putting the importance of soaking in the moment into perspective for the group before they face the Panthers on the road in Game 7.

Despite achieving their goal of reaching the final game of the season for a one-game match to determine the Stanley Cup champions, coming back from 3-0 down, there's still unfinished business for the Oilers in making their long-term aspirations of becoming champions a reality and they're not looking past that.

"You grew up as a kid playing on the street playing in Game 7 of the Cup Final," Perry said. "Now it's reality, and I don't think our mindset changes. It can't because we've done some good things, but we haven't done anything great yet and that's what we're looking for."

The task of winning the last game of the season for the Oilers begins with treating it like any other game and compartmentalizing their down to one final segment, much like they did when the season's outlook was dire during mid-November with their record reading 5-12-1 and Coach Knoblauch being early in his tenure behind the bench.

To achieve their extraordinary comeback, they'll have to keep it as ordinary as possible, says captain Connor McDavid.

"You've got to prepare just like you always do," he said. "Obviously it's not your ordinary game, everybody understands that, but you've got to make it as ordinary as possible in your head. I think part of that is just sticking to your routine.

"Our room has done a great job of being at our best in these big moments, and I would expect no different tomorrow."