3 Oilers Who Need To Have Break Out Series Against The Florida Panthers

As the Edmonton Oilers get ready to face the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup finals there are going to be a lot of things that have to go right for the Oilers to hoist the cup. We all know that Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman are going to bring their "A" game, but there are also some players who haven't made a big difference and will need to step up. Here are my top 3 players that need to step up.

Evander Kane

In the series against the Dallas Stars, Evander Kane went from being on a line centred by Leon Draisaitl to being on a line centred by Adam Henrique. While the line of Henrique, Holloway and Kane has not been bad, it is going to need to start contributing offensively. Kane is the leader on that line, both physically and offensively. Of the three players, Kane is the one who should be getting the majority of the goals.

Coming into these playoffs Kane informed the media that he had been suffering from a sports hernia. While you couldn't notice him in any sort of pain, you can see it in some plays that he takes a little bit off. It also appeared that he may have tweaked something in game 6, but he did come back and finish the game.

Through the 18 games he has played so far this playoffs Kane only has 8 points, of those 4 of them have been goals. If the Oilers have any hope of winning the cup I think Kane will need to improve those stats. This could be a series where his physicality could be leaned on though.

If you look at the Panthers roster their team goes as Matthew Tkachuk goes. If you can remember the series a couple of years ago when the Oilers were facing the Calgary Flames, Kane completely took Tkachuk completely out of the series. If Kane can do that again then the Oilers will be in good shape.