The Florida Panthers Are On The Verge Of One Of The Most Historic Collapses We've Ever Seen
Andy Devlin. Getty Images.There's nothing like playoff hockey. At this point last week we were all laughing it up, hootin' and hollerin' over the fact that Corey Perry was just one loss away from losing his 4th Stanley Cup Final with 4 different teams over the past 5 seasons. The P's were up 3 games to none in the series. The end looked inevitable.
But these are hockey players we're talking about here. There's no quit in these guys. They're never going to pack it in just because the odds are stacked against them. Zach Hyman grew up in a 6 bedroom, 5 bath, 4 car garage household. You think the odds have ever been stacked against that guy in his life?
Think again, Cowboy.
And now here we are. 3 games later and the Oilers have flipped this shit on its head. The city of Edmonton has put the entire nation of Canada on its back and have the Oil about to do something we haven't seen in 80 damn years.
I mean what do you even do or say on that flight back to Florida if you're the Panthers last night? The fact that you had to gas up the bird and head to Edmonton for a game 6 was already brutal enough. But now you're flying back home and you still don't have the Cup on the plane with you? Those assholes have to be puckered up so tight right now.
And sure, it's easy enough to say you're just going to treat it like any other game. That all you have to do is win this one final game and the last 3 don't matter. But..I mean…come on. You know they'll be thinking about how bad this collapse is going to be the entire game on Monday night. It would be impossible not to. This team's psyche has to be shattered. Losing games 4, 5 and 6 is so much more excruciating than losing the first 3 of the series. Losing the first 3 of the series typically means you never even had a chicken dick's chance of winning in the first place. But blowing a 3-0 series lead when you could have been lifting up the Cup a week ago? The Panthers have a chance to do something that hasn't been done since the Red Wings blew a 3-0 lead to the Leafs in the '42 Cup Final.
Monday is going to be insane. We either see the biggest collapse in the past 80 years of sports go down, or we see the hopes and dreams of an entire nation come crashing down with Florida putting an end to this comeback. Either result ends in one of the most traumatizing losses imaginable. It's going to be pure carnage out there for 60+ minutes. Game Seven. Greatest two words in the English language when combined together.