OK so the Edmonton Oilers finally got to the Stanley Cup Final in the Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl era, only to lose the first three games to the Florida Panthers in rather embarrassing fashion. Their two third-period goals in Game 3 to make the final score 4-3 were inconsequential — or so you would think.
Maybe the Oilers figured something out during that otherwise meaningless stretch of hockey. Maybe that’s more of the reason behind their explosion in Saturday night’s 8-1 romp to send the series back to Florida. Perhaps the Panthers just had a letdown, knowing they had three more cracks at the Cup, including two at home.
My theory? The power of Shania Twain is what elevated Edmonton into another stratosphere heretofore unseen from this group of players.
You see, Shania held a full-blown, free concert before Game 4 to get the fans hyped up, galvanizing them into, “We want the Cup!” chants.
Shania Twain and @EdmontonOilers fans break into a “We Want The Cup” chant. pic.twitter.com/ePxFktTtOJ
— Bill Price (@BillPriceNHL) June 15, 2024
She wasn’t done there, though. How about a full-blown pregame sizzle reel to whip the Oilers faithful into a frenzy?
Shania Twain gets us ready for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final 🤩
📺 8 ET on ABC/ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/eWBZGDlJTp
— ESPN (@espn) June 15, 2024
Then all there was to do was witness what happens when Shania puts out that many good vibes in one evening. In retrospect, the outcome seems inevitable.
Shania Twain is LOVING what she's seeing from the home team tonight. pic.twitter.com/s78UDs53Dq
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 16, 2024
Oilers 8-1 win sets the record for the largest margin of victory by a NHL team facing elimination in the Stanley Cup Final.
Previous record: Maple Leafs 9-3 win over the Red Wings in Game 5 of the 1942 Stanley Cup Final.
What happened that year???
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) June 16, 2024
One of the better moments of the night came when the Rogers Place arena of 18,000+ busted out their own rendition of “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” well after the PA cut the music at the puck drop:
Started the night singing Shania.
Ended the night singing Shania. pic.twitter.com/EKUKmLTt1k— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 16, 2024
Doesn’t get much better than that, does it? “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” is a personal favorite of mine to bust out on the karaoke machine. If you’ve never tried that out with a group of friends, dare I say you haven’t truly lived.
If our neighbors to the north can forgive me for my ignorance — I lived in the Toronto area as a kid, to be fair — I was today years old when I learned that the province of Alberta is essentially the epicenter of the country music genre in Canada. Although Shania is from Windsor, Ontario, this isn’t a time for regional rivalries. All Canadians are banding together and hoping for Lord Stanley’s Cup to return to its native land (national anthem pun intended).
The Oilers will need all the Shania magic they can get, along with maybe some divine intervention, to defeat the Panthers three more times in a row. But hey, just like the Dallas Mavericks did to the Celtics, you can’t rally from a 3-0 deficit without getting that first victory. Both Edmonton and Dallas did that in about the most dominant fashion imaginable.
Maybe the Mavs should get Shania on the horn before Monday’s Game 5 for a pregame pump-up video at the very least.
Cue it up:
