The Edmonton Oilers lost Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night. There are only four instances where a team who was down 3–1 in a series has come back to win the series, so last night was historically and statistically a must win game. Edmonton played a solid game throughout but there were very blantant missteps that cost them this game. Combined with the excellent play of Sergei Bobrovsky the Oilers had their work cut out for them last night and will again on Saturday night for Game 4.
The problem of Bobrovsky
The Edmonton Oilers have two big problems in this series. Defensive slips, and Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky was essentially perfect in last nights game, facing nearly 30 shots in the first two frames alone. The number of difficult saves he made was incredible and based on the high quality shots they had, the Oilers could have been competitive in this game if someone else was in net. It wasn’t just difficult shots but also the rebound afterwards that Bobrovsky snared. The Oilers had no lack of shots last night so the only realistic answer to this problem is to get higher quality shots.
The odd thing about Bobrovsky is that, in these playoffs, he actually has a better save percentage against in tight, high danger shots than he does against mid-range shots which speaks volumes about his reflexes. That being said, the same does not ring true in the regular season, suggesting that this is due to a smaller sample size. Despite his excellent play against high danger chances, the only option is to pepper him with shots and get the puck inside when you can. Far easier said than done considering the size Florida’s defence.
Defensive errors
A problem that is at least as damaging and apparent to the Oilers as Bobrovsky’s excellent play is the defensive lapses. Every single goal against last night can be at least partially attributed to a mistake by a defenceman, here they are in order:
On the first goal Evan Bouchard was stripped of the puck on the Panthers blue line by Aleksander Barkov which led to the rush and then Mattias Ekholm did not keep Sam Reinhart from getting his stick on the puck despite being directly beside him.
The second goal was probably more Stuart Skinner’s fault than Cody Ceci’s. Skinner was behind the net in time to intercept the dump-in but fumbled the puck and let it leave the trapezoid. Ceci was just as close to Eetu Luostarinen as Ekholm was to Reinhart on the first goal, but simply didn’t keep him from passing to Vladimir Tarasenko who was not being covered by Brett Kulak as is his assignment but was instead wide open in front of the net. That was an awful goal in every way, if Kulak isn’t around to cover Tarasenko then a forward should be doing it.
The third goal was equally disastrous as the Oilers had three good chances in 15 seconds to alleviate the pressure in their zone and just couldn’t make the play. On the third attempt Darnell Nurse was pressured and gave the puck away to Matthew Tkachuk who passed to Sam Bennett, again, feeling lonely in front of the net.
The fourth and last goal saw Ekholm well out of position as Florida was breaking out. He wants to hold the blue line but there are already two Panthers behind him and he isn’t making the breakout pass difficult at all. After that Bouchard misplays the two-on-one and it’s a free shot for Barkov.
Last night’s goals
The first goal went to the Panthers late in the first period on a 4v4. This was one of those rare situations where the man to get the second assist deserves a big chunk of the credit. Barkov, the takeaway leader of the playoffs, lifted the puck from Bouchard and started a rush that ended with Reinhart, who was covered by Ekholm, but got his stick to the ice in time, tipping in a pass from Gustav Forsling.
Edmonton struck back early in the second on a beautiful breakaway shot from Warren Foegele. The Panthers made a fatal defensive error when they sent four men on a rush which only produced a shot that missed wide, rimming around the board to the blueline. Adam Henrique made it to the puck first and beat the lone pinching defenceman with a pass to Foegele who made no mistake on the breakaway, firing a laser wide past the glove of Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Panthers took back the lead midway through the second thanks to Tarasenko. On a Florida dump-in which was misplayed by Skinner then cutoff by Luostarinen, who out-muscled Cody Ceci, then passed net-front to a wide open Tarasenko.
The fourth goal of the night also belonged to the Panthers, making it a 3–1 game. This was a plain and simple hockey goal: sustained Florida forecheck which led to a loss of coverage and a giveaway by Edmonton. Bennett was left alone in front of the net and fired one upstairs on a pass from Tkachuk.
Florida made it a 4–1 game on a goal from Barkov. The Panthers broke out of their own zone with a long pass that exposed Ekholm in a bad position and entered the offensive zone on a two-on-one. Evan Rodrigues fed the puck to Barkov who put it past Skinner high blocker side.
Edmonton made it a game on a wacky bounce off a Phillip Broberg shot. The Oilers were exercising continuous pressure on the Panthers when Nurse put the puck on net, the rebound was picked up by McDavid who circled the net and passed to Broberg on the right faceoff dot. He fired a shot straight off Niko Mikkola’s now shattered elbow pad and into the net.
Edmonton raised some pulses through the roof with their third goal of the night, making it a one-goal game with only five and half minutes to go. McDavid won a puck battle in the corner and made a pass cross ice between two Panthers to Kulak on the blue line, a pass that most of us wouldn’t dare and all of us would have been benched for when we were young. As an immortal though, McDavid makes these passes like he’s stepping out to pick up the mail. Kulak fired a wrist shot that was tipped by Ryan McLeod and bounced past Bobrovsky.
What can Edmonton do now?
Realistically, the Oilers were partially lucky to be in this game at all, considering how poorly the defense played and how well Bobrovsky was playing., and partially unlucky that they outshot their opponent 35–23 but just couldn’t put enough of them past Bobrovsky.
The forwards played well, getting lots of shots and sustaining pressure at central points of the game. The irony of the game is that the Oilers finally got significant bottom six contribution but it was in a game where the defence forgot to show up and the power play remained stalled.
There are no two ways about it, Florida deserved this win. The game was by no means all negatives but all the Oilers need to play far better Saturday night in order to avoid the embarrassment of being swept, and to entertain any hope of winning the Cup.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
