G24+ Game Notes: Oilers push for Game 7 in final home game of the season

Tonight will be the 12th home game of the 2024 playoffs for the Edmonton Oilers, which ties their franchise record, set in 1987, for most home games in one playoff year. However, it will set the new mark for most home games, regular season and playoffs combined, as the Oilers will skate in front of the home crowd for the 53rd time.

— It will be the 47th home game for the Oilers under the guidance of head coach Kris Knoblauch. The Oilers have been stellar at home, with Knoblauch posting an overall record of 35-9-3, which includes a solid 7-4 in the playoffs.

— The Oilers have outscored LA, Vancouver, Dallas and Florida 47-32, including 31-26 at 5×5. Their power play is 31.4%, their PK is 92.6%, and they’ve outshot teams by an average of 31.4 to 24.7. They have been a very good home team all year, and they need one more excellent performance in front of a ravenously loud crowd to force Game 7 on Monday.

— In these playoffs, Connor McDavid has 25 points in 11 home games, followed by Evan Bouchard (19) and Leon Draisaitl (16). Zach Hyman leads them with eight goals, followed by Draisaitl (6) and Dylan Holloway (5).

— Florida is 7-3 on the road, including 1-1 in Edmonton. Matthew Tkachuk leads them with 11 road points, followed by Anton Lundell (10), Gustav Forsling, and Carter Verhaeghe (8). Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett are tied for the team lead with four goals.

In the salary cap era, the Oilers are 7-1 overall in Game 6s and 5-1 on home ice.
In 2006, they defeated Detroit 4-3 in round one to win the series. They defeated San Jose 2-0 in round two to win the series. They defeated Carolina 4-0 in the Cup Final to push it to Game 7.
In 2017, they defeated San Jose 3-1 in round to win the series and defeated Anaheim 7-1 to force a Game 7.
In 2022, they beat LA 4-2 on the road to force a Game 7 at home.
In 2023, they beat LA 5-4 on the road to win the series in six games. And in the second round they lost 5-2 at home to Vegas.

— In the cap era, The Panthers are 4-3 overall in Game 6 and they are 3-3 on the road.
In 2012, they lost 3-2 in New Jersey and were out of their first round series.
In 2016, they lost 2-1 in New York against the Islanders and had another first round exit.
In 2021, they lost 4-0 in Tampa Bay in round one and went golfing.
In 2022, they won 4-3 in Washington in round one to win their first series in the salary cap era.
In 2023, they defeated Boston 7-5 in Florida to force Game 7.
In 2024, they won 2-1 in Boston to win their second-round series and defeated the Rangers 2-1 in New York to win the Conference Final.

— The Oilers will look to become the third team in NHL history, and first in 79 years, to force a Game 7 after trailing 3-0 in the series. The 1942 Toronto Maples won Game 6 and Game 7, while the 1945 Detroit Red Wings won Game 6, but lost Game 7 to Toronto.

— McDavid has 11 points in the Final, which is two points back of the record set by Wayne Gretzky in 1988 with the Oilers.

McDavid is tied for the third most points through five games after Gretzky (13), Mario Lemieux (12 in 1991) and Gretzky (1985) and Paul Coffey (1985). One point tonight will tie McDavid with Daniel Briere for the most points in the 2000s. An Oilers win would give McDavid and excellent chance to set a new mark for points in the Final.

— Evan Bouchard broke Paul Coffey’s record for most assists in one playoff year last game when he picked up his 26th helper. Bouchard is now third in points with 32 and trails only Brian Leetch (34 in 1994) and Coffey (37 in 1985). Bouchard is having a playoff performance for the ages.

— Here is a little more in-depth breakdown of the first five games of the series.

Edmonton has had the higher xG in four of the five games, but lost Games 1 and 3. In Game 1 Sergei Bobrovsky was unreal with 3.14 goals saved above expected, but the Oilers made some major errors that led to goals against in Game 1 and 3 which cost them.

— Here is the five-game total for both teams in these categories:

Goals scored: EDM (17) and FLA (15).
Expected goals: EDM (16.62) and FLA (13.59).
Shot attempts: EDM (285) and FLA (298)
Shots: EDM (150) and FLA (142).
Slot shots: EDM (61) and FLA (57).
Inner slot shots: EDM (29) and FLA (22).
OZ Poss time: EDM (35:39) and FLA (30:30)
Rush chances: EDM (33) and FLA (26).
Cycle chances: EDM (50) and FLA (39)
Forecheck chances: EDM (12) and FLA (17)
Scoring chances: EDM (69) and FLA (56).

Edmonton leads in every category except shot attempts and forecheck chances.

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