The Florida Panthers have let the Edmonton Oilers back in the series after building a 3-0 lead. The Oilers beat the Panthers 5-1 on Friday night to tie up the Stanley Cup Finals at three games apiece. That sets up a winner-take-all game seven on Monday night in South Florida.
This will give the Florida Panthers a chance to raise the Stanley Cup on home ice in front of their home fans.
The Panthers have let their 3-0 series lead disappear and are on the verge of the greatest collapse in NHL playoff history if they cannot beat the Oilers on Monday.
Only one other time in NHL History has a team trailed in the Stanley Cup Final 3-0 and come back to win the series. That was in 1942 when the Toronto Maple Leafs trailed the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 and stormed back to win the series and the Cup 4-3.
This has been a shocking series for Panther fans to watch. After controlling the first three games in the series to take a 3-0 lead, Florida has looked like a different team in games four through six, allowing the Edmonton Oilers to win three straight and tie the series 3-3.
The slow starts have been costly to the Panthers as they have allowed the Oilers to score first and take the lead in the last three games, and the Panthers have never regained momentum.
Florida talked about making sure they started quickly in game six. They didn’t do it, as Edmonton jumped to a 1-0 lead and outshot the Panthers 13-2 in the first period.
Carter Verhaeghe talked about the start after the Panthers 5-1 loss. “They came out hungrier than us. They wanted it. That was kind of it. We didn’t really get to our forecheck off the start, and they took it to us. I think it’s for us to look at it and get better. We need some better starts.”
Verhaeghe is part of the Panthers forward group that must play better to help slow down Edmonton’s speed. The first five shots on goal from Florida in game six were from defensemen. That is not a recipe for winning. They need much better play from the forwards right from the start.
Is the pressure starting to get to the Panthers? The longer the series goes, the higher the pressure gets cranked up.
Aleksander Barkov was the only Panther to light the lamp for the Panthers in game six, scoring his ninth in the playoffs at 1:28 in the third period, which cut the Edmonton lead to 3-1.
Despite losing three in a row and having no answer for the Oilers’ speed, this still appears to be a confident group.
“We’re a confident group,” Verhaeghe said. “They’re here for a reason; we’re here for a reason. It’s the Stanley Cup Final. They’re a really good team, and it’s for us to come back and respond next game.”
Aleksander Barkov, who tallied the Panthers’ lone goal, knows they must play better. “Mentally, I would say we were ready. There were things in the game where some things happen: they get their chances, they play in our zone, and they get chances. We know we need to get better.”
Paul Maurice, the great philosopher in this series so far with his quotes, talked about game six and what to expect from the Panthers in game seven.
“Right now, if you walked in the room there won’t be a lot of happy people, and I’m not worried about how it is tonight,” Maurice said. “It doesn’t have to be right tonight. You’ve suffered a defeat. You feel it. It hurts. You lick your wounds, but then we start building back tomorrow. Who you are tonight means nothing to who you’re going to be two days from now.”
There are three keys to the Panthers winning game seven.
-They must have a better start. If the Panthers do not have an excellent start to the game and put some pressure on Edmonton, it will be hard to win game seven.
-The defense must play better. The D-corps have had no answers for the Oiler’s speed and offensive attack in the last three games. To win the Stanley Cup, they will have to figure out how to slow down this Oilers offense.
-The offensive stars of the Panthers must step up. Outside of Barkov and Verhaeghe, the Panthers offense has been MIA in the last few games. Florida must find a way to get this offense untracked and play like they did in the first three rounds of the playoffs.
I still like the Panthers to win Monday night in game seven, but they have made this more challenging than it needed to be.