The annual endurance test known as the Stanley Cup playoffs, which began way back on April 20, concluded last Monday with the Florida Panthers’ 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the Final.

Sean McDonough, who called the Final and several other series along the way as the lead play-by-play voice on ESPN/ABC, is on a bit of a respite before he begins his relished part-time summer job calling a handful of Red Sox games on WEEI.

But even with a chance to exhale, unwind, and get over a cold that affected him off and on in the postseason, McDonough can’t quite get his mind off the series, which featured just the 18th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Final history, and how appreciative he is that he got to call it.

“I think it turned out to be one of the great Stanley Cup Finals of all time,” said McDonough, who added that he had just watched a partial replay of Game 7. “It was for me, even at this stage in my career, a great honor and blessing to have the opportunity to call it.

“The postseason is long and it’s tiring, but this is why we do this. Since I was 8 years old lying on the living room floor calling Bobby Orr’s games into a tape recorder, getting a chance to do a seventh game of a Stanley Cup Final was a dream, and I’m grateful it came true.”

The stakes in Game 7 were both obvious and broad. In victory, the Panthers avoided becoming the second team to lose a Cup Final after taking a 3-0 lead. Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP in a losing cause, could have elevated his status within the history of the sport to even greater heights with a win. (Maybe he did anyway.) And good-humored veteran coach Paul Maurice probably locked up a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame after guiding the Panthers to the win.

“I was just watching the NHL Network too because I guess I can’t get away from it,” said McDonough. “They had [a soundbite from Oilers coach] Kris Knoblauch’s press availability, and he said there were a lot of bounces that didn’t go their way. That was true, watching it back.

“They didn’t have much ‘puck luck’ in that game because there are a few times where the puck was bouncing around dangerously in front of [Panthers goalie Sergei] Bobrovsky and just couldn’t find a way to get it in. One bounce here or there and Game 7 could have been a completely different result.”

McDonough’s voice was in excellent form for Game 7. But the cold that refused during the long playoffs to fully go away caused him to miss Game 2 of the Rangers-Hurricanes Eastern Conference semifinal series in May, and it affected his voice during Game 3 of the Cup Final.

“I’m really tired, you can probably hear in my voice,” he said. “I got sick early in the playoffs. It was very frustrating. I hated to miss the game early in the playoffs. And then it came back.

“Any broadcaster’s worst nightmare is any kind of sickness that impacts your voice. It’s like, ‘I can do the game with a sprained ankle,’ know what I mean? So that was frustrating. But stuff happens and I just feel blessed that we got four more after that and had a Game 7.

“I don’t know how the players who make it to the Final do it. I mean, they’re running into each other in high-speed collisions and over and over and over again,” he added, chuckling. “I’m just standing there talking.”

After some rest — and surely some golf — McDonough will be back in the Red Sox booth for a few games here and there, beginning July 9 against the A’s. He said he’s kept up with the Sox as much as possible in recent weeks, and has been impressed with the job Alex Cora is doing.

“I look for the box score every day, but it seemed like every time I looked at the standings they were exactly .500 or so,” he said, “and then they went on that stretch where they won seven out of eight and really found an identity.

“It’s great and I hope they can keep it going. I really do. It’s a lot more fun around here in the late summer when the games are meaningful.”

Catching his breath

In an even briefer respite for a play-by-play voice, Dave O’Brien has a five-day break as June turns toward July, thanks to some quirks in the Red Sox schedule. The Sox were off Thursday, and the opener with the Padres Friday was exclusive to Apple TV+. Mike Monaco is filling in on Saturday, and Tom Caron will call play-by-play Sunday, with Monaco leaving for London as part of ESPN’s Wimbledon coverage team, a well-deserved assignment. The Sox are off Monday, so O’Brien will be back Tuesday for the opener against the Marlins in Miami . . . Caron may be best known to Boston fans for his studio hosting work with the Red Sox, but he does have extensive play-by-play experience, particularly in hockey. The opinion here is that he would be a suitable selection as Jack Edwards’s successor as NESN’s Bruins voice.