Commentary: It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

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It’s the series that won’t end.

The Stanley Cup Final is being dragged back to Edmonton for a Game 6 on Friday after the Oilers avoided elimination again, topping the Florida Panthers 5-3 in Sunrise on Tuesday night.

What a delicious topic for today.

Connor McDavid had another 4-point outing and is now just five points back of Wayne Gretzky’s record for most points in a single playoff year.

The Panthers found a way to keep #97 in check for the first three games when they went up 3-0 in games and were on the verge of a sweep.

Then they, inexplicably, seemed to take their eye off the ball – or puck – and now have lost all momentum in the series as both teams and their fans head back to the Alberta capital with two days off between games.

Did McDavid wake up or did the Panthers take their foot off the gas?

Both. He had two points and was minus-3 in the first three games. All Oilers losses.

And I’ve noted a few times in this space how comments by Panthers people seemed presumptuous regarding winning the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

It ain’t over till it’s over.

You don’t celebrate till the clock hits zero.

It reminds me of asking Rider great Brendon Labatte at a sports banquet in Milestone, SK when they knew they had the 2013 Grey Cup in the bag, beating Hamilton 45-23.

He said it was when they took a knee one last time, and the gun sounded.

The two day break will be a good thing for the Panthers cuz it should snuff out any Edmonton momentum and Game 6 should be its own unique game.

Bob needs to get back to being Bob. They need to shore up suddenly shoddy special teams play.

And they need to remember who they are.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 5 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)