The most recent time it was done also occurred in Edmonton, when the Oilers won Game 6 of the 2006 Cup Final 4-0 against the Carolina Hurricanes at Rexall Place. The Hurricanes went on to win Game 7 in Carolina.
Since the Cup Final became a best-of-7 in 1939, the other teams to rally from 3-1 down in the Final to force a Game 7 were the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs (against the Detroit Red Wings), the 1945 Red Wings (against the Maple Leafs), the 1954 Montreal Canadiens (against the Red Wings), the 1987 Philadelphia Flyers (against the Oilers) and the 1994 Vancouver Canucks (against the New York Rangers). Of those six teams, only the Maple Leafs in 1942 won the Stanley Cup.
To extend their season the Stars could look to their defensemen for offense once again. Stars defensemen have combined for 67 points (17 goals, 50 assists) in 26 postseason games, the second-most in one playoff season by any team, behind the 77 points (19 goals, 58 assists) scored by Oilers defensemen in 18 games in 1985.
Miro Heiskanen, who assisted on Joe Pavelski's game-tying goal in the third period of Game 5, is third among all players in the postseason with 26 points (six goals, 20 assists). He's the fourth defensemen with at least 20 assists in one playoff season, joining Paul Coffey (25, Oilers, 1985), Al MacInnis (24, Calgary Flames, 1989) and Brian Leetch (23, Rangers, 1994).
Heiskanen's 26 points also are fourth among defensemen in one playoff season, behind Coffey (37, Oilers, 1985), Leetch (34, Rangers, 1994) and MacInnis (31, Flames, 1989).
A Lightning victory would give them their second Stanley Cup, and first since 2004. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy will attempt to join Nikolai Khabibulin, the Lightning's goalie in their championship season, as the only goalies in NHL history to win their first seven games following a loss. Vasilevskiy is 6-0 with a 1.41 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage following a loss during the 2020 postseason; Khabibulin was 7-0 with a 0.95 GAA, a .963 save percentage and two shutouts in games following a loss in 2004.
Vasilevskiy is one of seven goalies in League history with at least six wins following a loss in one postseason, joining Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues in 2019 (8-2), Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers in 2014 (6-4), Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 (6-2), Khabibulin (7-0), Miikka Kiprusoff of the Flames in 2004 (8-2) and Ron Hextall of the Flyers in 1987 (8-2).
Tampa Bay forward Brayden Point had two assists in Game 5, his third straight multipoint game. The only player with four consecutive multipoint games in the Cup Final is Yvan Cournoyer of the Canadiens in Games 1-4 of the 1973 Final.
