Major disadvantage thrown at Oilers for Game 6

Oilers’ captain Connor McDavid was right and his team is dragging the Panthers back to Alberta for Game 6 on Friday. Edmonton held on for a 5-3 victory Tuesday to cut Florida’s lead in the Stanley Cup final to 3-2.

While the Oilers and their fanbase are pumped, an important factor comes into play with one of the biggest flaws of the NHL postseason. The schedule has been stretched out from the start of the playoffs, and not there are three days off between both Games 5 and 6, which is of course seen as a significant disadvantage for Edmonton.

The Oilers have the momentum now and it seems hard to imagine that the fire can keep burning as strong until Friday night. Several fans and pundits have been discussing the issue of the NHL schedule heading into the sixth contest of this intense Stanley Cup Finals.

It is true however that both teams have a lot of travel and miles to do in order to get to Edmonton, and then rested and ready for Friday evening.

Game 6 in a championship round with the furthest distance between cities in NHL history at more than 4,000 kilometres goes Friday in Edmonton. Game 7, if necessary, would be Monday back in South Florida.

If this goes to Monday, the 2023-24 season will officially come to an end on the 24th of June, just four days prior to the NHL Entry Draft in Las Vegas.

I’m not going to complain about hockey late into June, but man, waiting for Friday night is going to be long.