The Athletic has live coverage of the Oilers vs. Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Stanley Cup Final is, in all likelihood, going to be decided by whether the Florida Panthers can kill off just enough Edmonton Oilers power plays.
Or more to the point after Saturday night’s Game 1: survive the Oilers’ three power-play chances.
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Because what we saw at Amerant Bank Arena looked more like hair-on-fire penalty killers and 10-bell saves from their netminder than any kind of secret recipe that stymied the NHL’s most dangerous power play.
“There are nights that the driver is the players,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of his penalty-killing unit, which entered the Cup Final ranked No. 2 in the postseason. “Tonight the driver was Sergei (Bobrovsky).
“Very rarely do you play a team with a power play like that.”
Indeed.
And on Saturday night, the Panthers weren’t feeling like they found the Kryptonite for the Oilers’ PP but rather that they got away with it.
“On the kill, Bob made the saves when he had to,” echoed Panthers penalty killer Sam Reinhart. “They’ve got probably the best power play in the league for the last couple of years. So they’re so dynamic.
“If you’re a little tentative and give them a little bit of room, they’re going to make the same plays. So we’ve got to just stay aggressive and make the reads.”
Aggressive they were. Florida’s penalty killers had an all-out pressure approach to Edmonton’s star-studded power-play unit. I know Maurice picked the brain of his close pal Pete DeBoer over this past week in the lead-up to the Cup Final, and he may have gotten some intel from the Dallas Stars head coach when it comes to the lethal Oilers power play.
Whatever the case, the Panthers’ aggressive penalty killers forced quicker decisions from the Oilers. But Edmonton adjusted and still got its looks.
“We generated chances,” Oilers superstar Connor McDavid said. “We had looks. Not a ton of puck luck around their net.”
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Oilers’ three power plays generated nine scoring chances, including five high-danger looks.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a power-play breakaway. Zach Hyman had a couple of near misses. Evan Bouchard blasted his patented Bouch Bomb.
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So, the stat line will say 0-for-3, but there’s no reason for Edmonton to be discouraged that its No. 1 weapon didn’t score.
The chances were there.
GO DEEPERWhy the Oilers aren't panicking after Game 1 shutout loss“The Oilers don’t get discouraged when they don’t score on the PP because they always get really good looks on the next one,” Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet told The Athletic on Saturday night.
He should know. He lived it in the second round.
Said Hockey Hall of Fame coach Ken Hitchco*ck via text message after the game about the Panthers: “I would be scared to take one penalty.”
I picked the brains of some of the game’s smartest defensive minds for a May 1 column on the lethal Oilers power play, and it’s worth remembering what they said.
“I don’t know if I have an answer for that, holy moly,” six-time Selke Trophy winner Patrice Bergeron said.
“How do you defend Edmonton’s power play? Don’t take penalties,” former Jack Adams Award-winning coach Dave Tippett said with a chuckle.
“It’s a good reason to not be coaching,” Hitchco*ck quipped.
“Best way to stop it is to stay out of the penalty box,” Stanley Cup-winning coach Craig Berube said.
“When they’re clicking, it’s hope the goalie’s great lol,” coach Gerard Gallant joked.
GO DEEPERHow to stop the Oilers power play? Here's what some of the NHL's all-time defensive minds sayWell, the Panthers didn’t stay out of the box Saturday night. In fact, if you had told the Oilers before the game that they’d be getting three power-play opportunities, they would’ve been stoked. So much of the Oilers’ internal concern before this series has focused on whether the standard would be called or not by the four referees in the series. No doubt that came up in the Oilers’ pre-series meeting with series supervisor Kris King.
As it turns out, the Oilers got their opportunities. The officiating standard was upheld in Game 1.
But Florida found a way to escape the Oilers’ power-play wrath, to refer back to Gallant, because the goalie was great.
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It makes you wonder: Which will make more adjustments before Game 2, the Oilers’ power play or the Panthers’ penalty kill?
“I think their pressure is good,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game of Florida’s penalty kill. “As long as we’re ready for it and can anticipate it, we can get some really good scoring chances. And I think a couple of times, we were able to do that.
“But I think the execution on power plays is just finishing your play, making a pass. We did have some good chances.”
As Knoblauch pointed out, the Oilers’ power play started 0-for-6 in the Western Conference final but then had a 4-for-5 stretch.
“There’s always law of averages,” Knoblauch said. “Things over a long course of time work out. This is why we’re playing a seven-game series and not a one-game elimination.”
Give Hyman a couple of those looks on the power play again in Game 2 and odds are the man with 68 combined regular-season and power-play goals this season will finish one or two.
“I’ve had a lot of chances in my career, and you continue to get them and eventually they’re going to go in and when they go in, they go in in bunches, and sometimes you have an amazing look and it doesn’t go in and sometimes it hits your shin pad and it goes in,” Hyman said Saturday night. “Hockey is a funny game. The key is to not get frustrated. You just continue to play and play your game. That’s why it’s a seven-game series. And you go out there and you execute.
“I liked our game. We had our looks. Tonight we didn’t score on them, and I’m pretty confident we’re capable of scoring.”
The thing about the Oilers’ power play, too, is that it generates so many chances that even when it doesn’t score, it tends to produce momentum for the next few five-on-five shifts. One aspect feeds into the other.
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Are the Oilers really going to go 0-for-the-Cup Final on the power play?
The answer to that question is why Florida knows it’s got to raise its game moving forward. And I think the Panthers will. And the Oilers can build from many positives in Game 1.
“I would say the Oilers played very well,” Hitchco*ck said Saturday night. “A lot of aspects that you would really like. Now they have to find that same energy and outwork the goalie.”
Especially on the power play.
(Photo of Connor McDavid and Sam Reinhart: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Pierre LeBrun has been a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic since 2017. He has been an NHL Insider for TSN since 2011 following six years as a panelist on Hockey Night In Canada. He also appears regularly on RDS in Montreal. Pierre previously covered the NHL for ESPN.com and The Canadian Press. Follow Pierre on Twitter @PierreVLeBrun
