Monday marked the first time the Oilers and Panthers met since Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals, and for Edmonton, it ended in a similar fashion with them not being able to find one more goal.
Game 7, of course, saw Florida take an early lead which Edmonton bounced back from quickly, but it was a second-period goal from Sam Reinhart that would go on to be the game-winner in a 2-1 game. Monday, meanwhile, also saw the Panthers carry a 2-1 lead after the first period, which the Oilers bounced back from to lead 4-2 after two.
But the game got away from the Oilers in the third period, as three Panthers goals would become too much for the team to overcome.
“Just some really bad mistakes, whether it was the defence not getting the puck out, or not being supported, line changes not where it should’ve been,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch.
The offence for the Oilers was led by the usual suspects. Zach Hyman continued his goalscoring ways with a pair of goals, while Connor McDavid put together a three-assist performance, setting up the former for each of his. Leon Draisaitl added a goal and an assist of his own, but it wasn’t the offensive performances that were the issue for the Oilers: it was their defensive game.
It’s almost odd to say, given the team had given up just 12 goals against in their previous seven games, but cracks began to show Saturday against the Golden Knights, carrying over to tonight.
“I thought we got a little bit fortunate against Vegas,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, when asked if their strong defensive play has drifted away from them a bit. “It’s something we got to dial back in. Playing a team that was shutout twice in a row, you knew they were going to be hungry offensively, and they were. We got to be better though.”
Few may have faced the brunt more Monday than Evan Bouchard, whose blunders footwork on the power play blue line saw him fall, coughing up a puck to Jesper Boqvist, who opened the scoring under three minutes into the game. He’d also get caught in the spin cycle for all three of the Panthers’ third-period goals.
Clearly not a shining game for a bright young player, he took ownership after the game, saying he needed to be better all over the ice. His head coach, meanwhile, stood up to bat for him.
“Definitely seen Evan play a lot better than that,” he said. “We had some other guys who didn’t play their best either, so I’m not just putting this on Evan. Evan is obviously one of our best players, and usually you got to count on those guys to win, lose games.
“If you’re winning games, they’re usually your best players, but they can’t be our best players every night. It was a tough night for Evan, but he doesn’t have those very often.”
But for Knoblauch, there were other, more significant areas he saw concern in, moreso than in just one individual player.
“Sometimes when you get really good goaltending, you rely on that and your details aren’t that good defensively,” said Knoblauch of what ailed his team in the last two games. “When you’re not continually getting those saves, you just rely on that stellar goaltending and don’t necessarily think about the details on defensive play.
“Some of the things tonight — not getting the puck out, the importance of changes, the discipline of not taking penalties — stuff like that.”
The beat goes on for the Oilers, who will now have a few days to reset before hosting the Boston Bruins on Thursday night. Stopping one loss from becoming two will be front of mind for the team.
“I think the sense of urgency goes up,” said McDavid. “We talk about not letting losses turn into two, three, four games, you got to respond well. We always have. I expect the same on Thursday for sure.”
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
