Sweeping Rats Off Canadian Ice?
Written by Casey Ditzel
Despite a late third period comeback Thursday night in Game 3, the Edmonton Oilers fell short losing 4–3 to the Florida Panthers, giving Florida a 3–0 series lead in pursuit of the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. Trailing 4–1 into the final 15 minutes of the third period, the Oilers rallied a pair of even strength to narrow the margin, but ran out of gas in the closing 90 seconds trying to will a game tying goal with their net empty.
With loaded anticipation for the first Stanley Cup Final game hosted in Edmonton in nearly 20 years, the crowd’s passion and excitement showed in one of the loudest pre games of the playoffs. The Oilers progressively got more dangerous throughout the opening period, but in familiar fashion to the first pair of games in Sunrise, FL saw Sergei Bobrovsky snare shot after shot. The nail in the first came with 1:02 remaining as an offensive zone turnover resulted in an odd man rush for Florida and Sam Reinhart scored the opening goal.
Warren Foegel reignited the Oilers crowd early in the second period, scoring 1:49 into the period to tie the game 1–1. Unfortunately the energy vacuumed out quickly as Florida scored back-to-back-to-back goals in the middle of the period surging into a 4–1 lead. Vladimir Tarasenko scored the go ahead goal from Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell 9:12 into the second. The Panthers then scored 94 seconds apart from Sam Bennett at 13:57 and Aleksander Barkov at 15:31, the eventual game-winning goal.
The Oilers cut the lead in half from Philip Broberg 6:02 into the third period, then struck again on a tip-in by Ryan McLeod with 5:17 remaining in regulation, cutting Florida’s lead to 4–3. Connor McDavid assisted on both third period goals counting his first points of the Stanley Cup Finals. The Oilers looked to pull Stewart Skinner with over two minutes remaining, but the persistent forecheck of the Panthers and a couple neutral zone turnovers, they were not able to get the extra skater on the ice until inside the final 90 seconds. Florida pinned the puck in the corner, eating away 25 of the final 30 seconds then cleared the zone to end the game.
The Oilers now find themselves in a nearly impossible spot, down 3–0 in the series- a deficit that has only been overcome once, by the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs. Edmonton’s high flying offense has been shut down by the Panthers defense, holding the top five weapons (McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) without a goal through three games. Similarly, the Panthers have relied on depth scoring primarily from their defenseman and Evan Rodrigues before their stars were able to break onto the score sheet in Game 3.
Game 4 Storylines
Even though Game 3 felt very much like a must win for Edmonton to get back in the series, Game 4 is now win or go home. To send the finals back to Florida, the Oilers need to find a way to revamp their offensive dominance from earlier in the postseason. Edmonton has only scored one power play goal since Game 7 against Vancouver in the second round, which came in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at Dallas. Establishing the man advantage is step one.
Aside from Connor McDavid, who has still not scored in the series, Edmonton’s top names have been mostly unnoticeable. The importance of those top five to the Oilers success has been extraordinary, but their overuse playing 20 or more minutes per night seems to be catching up. Late in Game 1 and throughout the entirety of Game 2, Edmonton’s top line looked noticeably slower than usual. With Bouchard and McDavid nearing 85 minutes played over the first three games, and Draisaitl, Hyman, and Nugent-Hopkins not far behind, it is hard to foresee them making a major dent against the dominance Florida has shown.
Chris Knoblauch stated in a press conference Thursday night following Game 3, “I think that we’ve shown we can beat this team.” That belief did not seem as evident watching the emotionless faces on Edmonton’s bench throughout the game, until they were back within a goal for the final few minutes.
Paul Maurice and the Florida Panthers look primed to both win their first Stanley Cup. Maurice’s team does not need to change much, it seems, to close the deal. If they can keep up the high pace, hard forecheck, and depth of four continuous fresh lines, could we see rats fly in Edmonton after game 4?
Game 4 Predictions:
Casey Ditzel: Florida 6–3 Edmonton. FLORIDA WINS THE CUP.
Khalin Kapoor: Florida 1–2 Edmonton
Jorge Bannister: Florida 3–4 Edmonton (F/OT)
Jenna Bonomo: Florida 5–3 Edmonton. FLORIDA WINS THE CUP.
Matt Leonardo: Florida 2–4 Edmonton
Nick Kozsan: Florida 1–3 Edmonton
Jake Swanson: Florida 6–5 Edmonton. FLORIDA WINS THE CUP.
