The Edmonton Oilers are trailing the Florida Panthers 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals heading into the first June game ever at Rogers Place. The puck drops at 8 pm EST on Thursday.
Before Monday night, there was a lot of encouragement and positivity surrounding the Oilers’ Game 1 loss. They controlled the majority of the play, put 32 pucks on the net, and made the Panthers’ defense look beatable.
After going down 2-0, however, Game 1 feels more and more like the one that got away.
There are lots of questions as Game 3 looms, but there’s a sense of poise and leadership in the room, and it all starts with Connor McDavid
Oilers Captain Saying All the Right Things
Connor McDavid became the Captain of the Oilers three months before his 20th birthday. Eight years later, through many ups and downs, they are finally here. Down 2-0, yes, but they are here and McDavid believes very strongly in this group.
“I’m excited to see what our group is made of, excited to see our group coming together. Excited to see us fight through adversity, and looking forward to people doubting us again, with our backs against the wall.”
At the beginning of the year, there were a lot of very educated people who picked the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup. If not win, represent the West at a minimum. So, big picture, there was plenty of belief in this Oilers team.
But, throughout the season there have been plenty of reasons to doubt them. From starting the season 3-9-1 and getting their coach fired to being down 3-2 to the Canucks, then 2-1 against the Stars. Yet, they came out on the other side victorious every single time.
Now, they’re down 2-0 in the final test of the year, and if we’re being honest, it doesn’t look good.
“It’s supposed to be hard. It’s supposed to be difficult,” McDavid said on Monday night.
Powerplay Needs to Be the Oilers’ Depth
Heading into the Finals, the Oilers had a league-best 37.9% PP. After going 0/7 in the first two games of the series, that number has dropped down to 32.8%.
Their penalty kill has still been phenomenal, but considering the lack of depth scoring, or scoring at all for that matter, and how tight 5-on-5 play has been, the powerplay has to break through for the Oilers to have a chance in this series.
McDavid was asked about what they need to do to figure out this Panthers penalty kill.
“Just using instinct. We call it playing road hockey. We’ve got to be elite at that. – They’re doing a great job of making it tough on us, but with that being said, the powerplay has been together for a long time and we’ve been great at what we do.”
That’s the truth. This PP unit has been historically good for the last two seasons, and they are going to need to dig deep and find that again on Thursday night and beyond.
Injuries Headline Roster Questions
In the previous two series, McDavid did not look like himself. However, it looks like the week of rest leading up to the Finals did him a world of good. He’s faster than everybody again and looks as healthy as you can ask for at this time of the year.
That can’t be said for a few other key pieces on the roster.
Darnell Nurse played just over four minutes in Game 2 after suffering an injury early in the contest. After missing practice today, Coach Knoblauch still expects him to play.
“We haven’t considered not having him for the next game. He’ll be ready to play.”
Evander Kane however, is an entirely different story.
Kane hasn’t practiced for the majority of the playoffs after dealing with a sports hernia at the end of the regular season. He then suffered an undisclosed injury in Game 6 against Dallas but has played both games against the Panthers.
Aside from the obvious players, (McDavid, Hyman, Draisaitl, and Bouchard), Kane is one of the biggest X-factors the Oilers have at their disposal. His combination of grit and skill is a necessity against a Florida team that has a plethora of both.
Knoblauch hinted that Corey Perry would be back in the lineup, which does hint that they are expecting Kane to miss Game 3.
While nothing has been brought to our attention, it should be noted that star-forward Leon Draisaitl hasn’t looked like himself for quite some time. He has only five points in his last nine games and has effectively been a non-factor for both games in this series.
Oilers Hope to Ride the Hometown Wave
The Oilers have not won a Stanley Cup since the Messier-led team in 1990. They have not been to the finals since losing to Carolina in seven games back in 2006. The city of Edmonton is going crazy right now, and as a Canadian, I can tell you, it is the only thing anyone up here is talking about.
Not every Canadian wants them to win, but every eye is on Edmonton, and the energy in that building is going to provide the most electric atmosphere we’ve seen in this series so far.
For the Oilers, they need to feed off that energy, and just get back to the basics. The Panthers are doing a great job making the zone entries difficult, and once they get into the zone, nothing is getting to the front of the net without paying the physical price.
We saw McDavid skating circles around everyone in the offensive zone but had trouble getting anything of significance on Sergei Bobrovsky.
That is one of quite a few adjustments they have to make on Thursday. Even though it’s not a must-win, it’s a must-win. They have to find a way to make them if they want a guaranteed trip back to Florida.
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About The Author
Marc Sautter is a self-proclaimed sports addict, with the NHL being his specialty. After being a sports fan from afar, Marc made a career change in his 30s to cover sports through journalism and podcasting. His daily NHL preview and betting show “Pucks Across Borders” airs every weekday morning. In addition to hockey, you can read his work on the Canadian Football League all summer on Total Apex Sports.
