3 Keys: Oilers at Panthers, Game 7 of Stanley Cup Final

(2P) Oilers at (1A) Panthers

Stanley Cup Final, Game 7

8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC

Best-of-7 series tied 3-3

SUNRISE, Fla. -- History will be made in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday. The question is whether the Florida Panthers or Edmonton Oilers will be the ones making it.

If the Panthers win, it will be the first Cup championship in their history.

If the Oilers win, it will be their first Cup championship since 1990. They could also become the second team in NHL history to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win the Stanley Cup, joining the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who did it against the Detroit Red Wings.

Edmonton would also become the first team from Canada to claim the Cup since the Montreal Canadiens won it in 1993.

The Oilers defeated the Panthers 5-1 in Game 6 at Rogers Place on Friday and have outscored Florida 18-5 in the past three games.

“You have to prepare just like you always do,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “Obviously, it's not your ordinary game. Everybody understands that. But you've got to make it as ordinary as possible in your head. I think part of that is just sticking to your routine. Our room has done a great job of being at our best in these big moments, and I would expect no different (in Game 7).”

The Panthers have struggled to get much going in any department the past three games. Forward Evan Rodrigues said Florida had “probably one of the hardest-working practices I’ve seen out of our group” on Sunday to prepare for Game 7.

“Game 7, at home. How could you not be so jacked up?” forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “This is an absolutely incredible, incredible opportunity. So, yes, you want to recognize or remember some of the good things that helped you beat these guys earlier in the series, but I'm trying to forget all of it too. Just go in there and win one game. This is what it comes down to.”

Panthers coach Paul Maurice is 4-0 in his career (with the Carolina Hurricanes, Winnipeg Jets and Panthers) in Game 7s. Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch is 1-0 in his only career Stanley Cup Playoff Game 7, a 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference Second Round.

Here are 3 keys for Game 7:

1. Spark up the power play

This one is for the Panthers, who are 1-for-19 and have allowed two short-handed goals with the man-advantage in the Cup Final. They made a change at practice Sunday, moving forward Vladimir Tarasenko to the first power-play unit in place of Carter Verhaeghe, who took Tarasenko’s spot on the second unit. Now to see if it can generate some much-needed offense.

“We've talked a lot about it,” Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said. “Of course, their penalty kill dialed in. They're playing really well. They played really good against Dallas and now they're doing the same thing to us.

Obviously, we have to recognize that, and we've been talking about it and working on it. So ... like I said, just like everything else in our game, we just need to come out and play our best so whether it's 5-on-5 or power play or penalty kill.”

2. Staying the course

Pretty much everything has been working well for the Oilers the past three games, from the power play to the penalty kill to defense to offense. This is not the time to experiment, Knoblauch said.

“We’re not going to do anything differently,” he said. “We’ve always had little adjustments for whoever we’re playing, lineup tweaks, maybe emphasis on some things in our system. We didn’t do anything drastic. We’re playing a very big game and it’ll be very much the same as we’ve done throughout the playoffs.”

3. Speed it up

After the Panthers lost Game 6, coach Paul Maurice said they were “lacking speed.” Florida didn’t get a shot from a forward in that game until midway through the second period, and it was a big part of what hurt them.

If they want to hoist the Cup, they need to get that speed going immediately.

“You utilize time and space,” forward Sam Reinhart said. “Sometimes you think you have less than you actually do, so I think it's guys driving the play a little bit more and hang onto pucks a little bit more.”

Oilers projected lineup

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Connor McDavid -- Zach Hyman

Warren Foegele -- Leon Draisaitl -- Dylan Holloway

Mattias Janmark -- Adam Henrique -- Connor Brown

Ryan McLeod -- Derek Ryan -- Corey Perry

Mattias Ekholm -- Evan Bouchard

Darnell Nurse -- Philip Broberg

Brett Kulak -- Cody Ceci

Stuart Skinner

Calvin Pickard

Scratched: Vincent Desharnais, Sam Gagner, Sam Carrick

Injured: Evander Kane (sports hernia), Troy Stecher (ankle)

Panthers projected lineup

Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart

Evan Rodrigues -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Vladimir Tarasenko

Ryan Lomberg -- Kevin Stenlund -- Kyle Okposo

Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola -- Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Dmitry Kulikov

Sergei Bobrovsky

Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Nick Cousins, Steven Lorentz, Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich

Injured: None

Status report

The Oilers will make no lineup changes. ... Okposo is back in the lineup for the Panthers, replacing Cousins, after being a healthy scratch for a 5-1 loss in Game 6.