It all comes down to this.
Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final has arrived with a winner-take-all tonight between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.
After the Panthers took a 3-0 series lead with a 4-3 victory in Game 3 on June 13, even getting to a potential Game 7 seemed impossible.
The Oilers’ top five point scorers (Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) combined for zero goals and were on the verge of elimination.
And now we’re here.
Edmonton has dominated since that Game 3 defeat on home ice, winning the next three games and outscoring Florida a whopping 18-5 in the process.
In one of the most anticipated hockey games in recent memory, will the Oilers come all the way back and win their first Stanley Cup in 34 years, or can the Panthers finally get the job done and with their first-ever Stanley Cup in front of their fans?
Here are the odds, our betting preview and prediction on who will be awarded the Stanley Cup in Game 7:
Panthers vs Oilers puckline: Oilers +1.5 (-275), Panthers -1.5 (+235)
Through six games of this Cup Final, there have been plenty of lopsided affairs.
Only two games in this series (Games 3 and 5) have been decided by two or fewer goals.
However, once you take a step back and look at the recent trends of Game 7s in the NHL, it tells a different story.
Dating back to last postseason, six of the seven contests were decided by one goal.
The lone exception was when the Devils beat the Rangers, 4-0, in the first round of the playoffs in 2023.
Since the last Stanley Cup Final Game 7 between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues in 2019, 12 of the next 19 outcomes in a Game 7 were by a single goal.
Given recent history both from the overall landscape of recent Game 7s and how the Oilers have played since turning things around in Game 4, the undoubted side to bet here is for Edmonton to cover the +1.5 spread.
The best price you can currently get the Oilers on the puck line is at -275 (Bet $275 to win $100) on BetMGM.
Panthers vs Oilers total: Over 5.5 goals (+130), Under 5.5 goals (-150)
For the fourth straight game, the total has gone over the 5.5 line after there being five or fewer goals in Games 1 and 2 in Sunrise, Florida.
Recent history will tell you that the play is the under here, given four straight situations (including all three Game 7s this postseason) have gone below this line.
But that just hasn’t been how this series has gone over the last 11 days.
Both teams have been able to get pucks in the back of the net, especially Edmonton’s success against Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky after he looked nearly unbeatable through the first two games on home ice where he surrendered only one goal on 51 shots.
This is a situation where even though Game 7s have been lower scoring in the past, I’m betting on both the Oilers and Panthers to score multiple goals here with the total going over this number.
DraftKings Sportsbook offers the best price for over 5.5 goals at a great value of +130 (Bet $100 to win $130) in Game 7.
Panthers vs Oilers moneyline: Panthers -110 (Bet $110 to win $100), Oilers -106 (Bet $106 to win $100)
The Panthers’ current -110 moneyline price is the shortest value for a team in a Stanley Cup Final Game 7 since the Oilers, ironically, who were also -110 in 1987 defeated the Flyers, 3-1, in Game 7.
There’s no denying all the momentum has completely flipped and is now in the Oilers’ favor. They’re trying to become just the fifth team in NHL history and first in 82 years (1942 Toronto Maple Leafs) to overcome a 3-0 series deficit and win the Stanley Cup.
You can virtually guarantee Connor McDavid − the runaway favorite for the Conn Smythe Trophy, aka MVP of the playoffs − will be a force to be reckoned with after not posting any points or shots on net in Edmonton’s Game 6 victory.
He had eight combined points in Games 4 and 5 and has a remarkable 42 points in these playoffs, five shy of tying Wayne Gretzky for the most in a single postseason.
Florida’s biggest hurdle will be trying to solve Oilers’ netminder Stuart Skinner.
He’s been unbeatable as a series has prolonged these playoffs, as he sports a miraculous 10-0 record with a 1.50 goals against average and a .940 save percentage during Games 4-7 of a series.
The betting public is torn which way Game 7 will go with 51 percent of the bets on the Oilers and 49 percent on the Panthers as of Monday morning.
Even with Edmonton’s complete turnaround, thanks to McDavid and Skinner, I picked Panthers in 7 before the series started and I’m sticking with it here, as Florida earns its first Stanley Cup in franchise history in front of a raucous sold-out crowd at Amerant Bank Arena.
Multiple sportsbooks in New Jersey (Bet MGM, Caesars and ESPN BET) all have the best odds for Panthers moneyline at -110 in Game 7.
