It doesn't matter that the Oilers lost three games in a row to start this series, nor does it really matter right now that they won three straight after to force Game 7. All that matters is tonight. One game. One of the Edmonton Oilers or the Florida Panthers will be walking out of tonight's game as Stanley Cup Champions.

It's been 18 years since the Oilers have been in this situation. There are plenty of Oilers fans who don't even have those moments to look back on. Win or lose, this playoff run should be looked back on for years by all Oilers fans as a remarkable run. Winning tonight will cement this as among the greatest moments not only in Oilers history, but hockey history as a whole.

We all know what each locker room is going to be saying before the game. The Panthers will be saying that no one will care that they lost the past three games if they win tonight. The Oilers will be saying that the past three games have proven they have what it takes to beat Florida and that they just need to dig deep and do that one more time. It isn't about winning four in a row for Edmonton; it's winning one game tonight.

We know the Sergei Bobrovsky was not on the ice for the Panthers for their full practice skate yesterday which is highly odd for the player but he was on the ice this morning. Bobrovsky will certainly be starting for the Panthers tonight. Whether the Oilers win or lose may be answered by the type of game that Bobrovsky has. Bobrovsky was nigh unbeatable in Games 1-3 but has yet to post a SV% above .850 in his last three starts. Edmonton has been excellent at attacking Florida and creating chances on the rush, something that has been pointed out as a weakness to Bob's game. Edmonton needs to come out swinging hard and fast tonight like they did in Game 6 and find a way to score that first goal of the game and put doubt into the minds of the Panthers early on.

Lost in the phenomenal victory that Game 6 was was that Connor McDavid was held not only pointless but shotless. While Florida was able to slow the captain down, the secondary scoring took over for the Edmonton Oilers in a huge way. This is the biggest game of #97's career thus far and when the games matter the most, McDavid is always able to bring his game to another level. I think we are going to see something special from Connor tonight.

I really do not have much else to say about tonight's game. No specific analytics to bring forward, no plan of attack... I don't need to write how big a game this is because each of you reading this knows the enormity of tonight's game and what is riding on an Oilers victory. The ride one way or another is going to end tonight - I hope it is in victory for Edmonton as this city certainly deserves it.

I'd like to take a quick moment to thank all of you, Oilers fans, Panthers fans, Penguins fans, hockey fans... even the Canucks and Flames fans who have been reading and commenting on my blogs over this run. Enjoy the game tonight, cheer hard, and I look forward to discussing it more with you tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

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