Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland could be finding his way into the history books this week, but it’s for none of the right reasons.
In case you’ve somehow missed it, the Oilers are down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers and are on the verge of one of the biggest embarrassments in hockey: getting swept out of the playoffs.
Despite Edmonton going on the franchise’s deepest playoff run since their Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2006, they’ve fallen short of winning any of the first three games in the series.
With Game 4 coming Saturday night at Edmonton’s Rogers Place, the Oilers could be the first team to be swept in the Stanley Cup Final since the Detroit Red Wings knocked off the Washington Capitals in 1998.
Interestingly, the general manager for that team was none other than Holland himself, who won three Stanley Cups while working for the Red Wings. Holland picked up his first Stanley Cup as an assistant GM in 1997, when the Wings also swept the Philadelphia Flyers. Interestingly, the Wings themselves had been swept in 1995, when they fell to the New Jersey Devils.
But despite sweeps being in fashion in the mid-1990s, they’ve fallen out of favour recently. There were 20 sweeps between 1940 and 1998, but every Stanley Cup Final participant since 1999 has had the chance to win at least one game.
For the Oilers themselves, they’re at least publicly still giving themselves a chance, as mentally and physically drained as they might be.
“Keep cheering, keep cheering,” captain Connor McDavid said last night. “It’s not over until it’s over.”
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