2024 Stanley Cup Final Game 7: Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers set for historic showdown | CNN

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  [Breaking news update, published at 10:56 p.m. ET]

The Florida Panthers held off the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday, capturing their first NHL title and avoiding the ignominy of being the first team since 1942 to blow a 3-0 finals lead.

   [Original story, published at 5:52 a.m. ET]

After six games full of twists and turns, it all comes down to this.

Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers will decide which team will lift the famous trophy.

The Panthers had raced into a three-game lead, leaving them one victory from the franchise’s first championship, before the Oilers won the next three games to level the best-of-seven series at 3-3.

It sets up a winner-takes-all final game in what has been a thrilling series.

Game 7 will be played on Monday, June 24 at 8 p.m. ET at Florida’s Amerant Bank Arena.

The action will be shown on ABC, ESPN+, SN, CBC and TVAS.

When Florida raced into a 3-0 lead in the Final, it looked as if the NHL’s season finale might be brief.

While Florida have three times missed the opportunity to claim the organization’s first title, one final victory will write the team into the history books.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice said he has stressed to his players the importance of not letting the past impact how his team performs in Game 7.

“I know it’s 3-3. The concern of the previous three games certainly didn’t affect Edmonton, and it won’t affect us,” Maurice told reporters after the team’s Game 6 loss, per the NHL.

Maurice added when asked about Game 7: “The emotions change. The mood changes. Both teams get to come to the rink with a certain amount of freedom, right?

“There’s nothing left to be concerned about. It’s all energy. It’s everything you’ve got in a short period of time. So the context changes. Both teams will try to get to their identity as best they can.”

Conversely, the team with all the momentum is the Oilers.

Three straight wins – during which time the Oilers have outscored the Panthers 18-5 – have staved off defeat and now, Game 7 offers a chance to write themselves into the record books.

A victory for the Oilers would not only end Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought, but make Edmonton the second team – the first being the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 – to win the championship from 0-3 down, completing one of the greatest comebacks in sport.

With so much on the line, Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch emphasized the importance he’s placed on his team making a fast start in Game 7; the Oilers are 13-5 in the playoffs after scoring first and 3-1 in the Final.

“Going into Game 7, both teams are going to be very desperate, hardworking,” Edmonton’s Knoblauch told reporters, per the NHL. “But sometimes when you are more desperate and you work harder, sometimes there are more mistakes.

“When there are mistakes, that’s usually how the goal chances occur. Going into Game 7, I can’t really expect what kind of game it’s going to be. I just know that our players are going to be excited for it, loving the challenge. They’ve been enjoying this, the whole process.”