There was one thing the Edmonton Oilers didn’t need to do in Game 5. One thing. And that one thing was forgetting to show up. I don’t know how you forget to show up for a game, a home game, after you swung momentum in Game 4.
After the first period, it was clear: The Oilers looked like a squad that hired a team full of imposters to impersonate them in Game 5. Clearly, they wanted to make this series interesting for themselves, and they got what they wanted. Because now, there are two games left, and they need to win them both.
Lose, and that’s it. There are no more chances, and you just let the Florida Panthers get the best of you for the second time in as many seasons. Lose, and your best player, Connor McDavid, will wait roughly another calendar year before getting another shot to win a Stanley Cup.
Oilers quieted their own crowd for most of the contest…
Oilers fans had little to cheer about until Connor McDavid scored nearly halfway through the third frame. The Oilers didn’t get shots on goal, putting up 16 at the 12:08 to-go mark in the third period. Sure, the Panthers had the same number of shots, only they converted three of them, with Brad Marchand finishing two of those sequences.
They also weren’t physical, with the Panthers putting up 22 body checks near the third frame’s halfway point while the Oilers had only 15. And you would think, given the momentum they built after Game 4, that they would’ve come out hitting hard and snagging shots on goal.
Not long after McDavid’s goal, Sam Reinhart took advantage of the Oilers struggling blue line and put the game out of reach at 4-1. At that point, I knew the Oilers were done, and it was pack ‘em up and on to Game 6. I knew because this team had been flat for nearly 50 minutes, while the Panthers came in composed and physical, playing smart hockey the entire time.
Oilers need to pull off another big win on the road if they want to avoid elimination
If there’s any good news, it’s that the Oilers can steal home-ice advantage again with a win in Sunrise. But they had to scratch and claw their way to a win in Game 4, so is lightning striking twice in the same place? The Oilers better hope so, and it ain’t happening if they play the way they did tonight.
Overall, they got nobody to blame for tonight’s debacle but themselves. They had momentum and home-ice advantage. And they played like a team more interested in their summer vacation than a team that wanted to win the Cup.
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