SCF Shifts To Florida For Another Elimination Game For Edmonton
The Oilers hit the road to face the Panthers in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday June 18th at 8PM ET
The Oilers are tasked with carrying the confidence gained from an offensive explosion into game five, while also maintaining a healthy level of humility understanding it was "just one win" as Connor McDavid said in his post game media availability.
It's a fine line they have to tow and I do not envy their position. Nevertheless, there are a plethora of positives they can point to that should be emphasized once again on another evening where they are facing elimination.
According to Ryan Rishaug of TSN, the lines this morning at practice remain unchanged from the previous game. And why not, 15 skaters recorded a point and they finally broke the dam by balancing some minor adjustments coupled with not getting too much off script. All of the underlying data through the first three games suggested the Oilers were doing the right things (save for stretches in game 2) but were just unable to convert due to stellar goaltending from Bobrovsky.
One thing they did in particular that resulted in goals directly, was creating off the rush, utilizing stretch passes. It actually got the Panthers off of their own structure which has been stellar throughout this post season defending the rush. Darnell Nurse's tally comes to mind as he made an excellent read in joining the rush, and McLeod's goal late came from a breakdown off of an odd man rush generated by stretching the neutral zone with speed.
They had a volume of shots in games 1 and 3, but the quality of shots in game 4 was far superior. Bobrovsky was forced to make much more difficult saves and the Oilers coaching staff and players obviously know they have to duplicate that to stay in this series. We should see a healthy dose of the same again on Tuesday night, meaning stretch passes quick transitions through the neutral zone and shots off the rush.
One thing they need to clean up is their zone exits, they have been an issue all series and really dating back to the Vancouver series. Whether it be their defenders opting to rim the puck rather than make a tape to tape pass (this can and is often done out of necessity to be sure), or the wingers not being able to win their board battle near the blue line, they have struggled to nullify the Panthers excellent forecheck even in the 8-1 blowout.
The Panthers actually controlled play in the first period. They hit two posts, and Skinner made the now infamous save on the Verhaeghe opportunity off of a 2 on 1. Had he converted that and made the game 2-2, we may not be preparing ourselves for a game 5.
Speaking of Skinner, as a result of the Oilers big win in game 4 and Skinner's excellent net-minding which has not been spoken of nearly enough, he now has a better GAA than his counterpart on the other end of the sheet who was a -350 favorite to win the Conn Smythe heading into game 4. He also has a .901 SV% in the Finals and he needs to continue at that clip or better to keep his team alive.
Now that we have taken a look at a couple of areas in the past that have affected the outcome of previous games let's move on to what the Edmonton Oilers need to happen in order to stop the Florida Panthers from lifting the Cup tomorrow night.
The Panthers are an excellent team who are very unlikely to repeat that performance. They will be hungry, and motivated to undo the embarrassing effort and result, and even more importantly end this series on home ice and hoist the cup in front of their fans. So, the keys to victory for Edmonton in my evaluation are as follows:
Quick Start
It's an ages-old cliche, and rather obvious I admit, but it's just simply not an option now to allow Florida to get a lead and to have to chase the game. This lineup needs to find their game early and put the Panthers at odds with their own philosophy as they did in game 4.
Zach Hyman Needs To Show Up
Zach Hyman has not by any means played poorly and had two helpers in their victory, but the league's top goal scorer these playoffs by a substantial margin has yet to score a goal in this series and the Oilers are going to need it tomorrow night more than ever.
Limit Defensive Mistakes
Cody Ceci, Darnell Nurse, and Evan Bouchard have notorious bad habits in their own zone that have consistently cost these Oilers wins and in my evaluation is a major reason for Jack Campbell's struggles as an Oiler. Bouchard is a lethal 5-on-5 offensive threat therefore we're all willing to consume a little of the bad to go along with the good. But, he has to be better. After having a totally dominant first three rounds, he looks to have run out of gas and frequently mismanages the puck ie. the fumble at the blue line on the 4on4 in game 3. As for Nurse and Ceci, well, unfortunately, we all know too well that they can lack situational awareness at times to put it nicely and the Oilers cannot afford any more of those gaffes.
Oilers must be careful as Canadiens linked to Dylan Holloway. dark. Next. Oilers must be careful as Canadiens linked to Dylan Holloway
Bottom line as we all know, it's gut check time and I believe these Oilers will produce an effort commensurate to their situation. There won't be an Al Pacino-esque speech in the locker room prior to the game from Kris Knoblauch. It will be another work day for this group, much like they have taken a small sample size approach all year to dig themselves out of their early-season hole.
One period at time.
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