Oilers send Panthers back to Alberta with Game 5 win: Notes, takeaways and first look at Game 6

With the Stanley Cup in the works for a second straight game, the Florida Panthers failed to muster enough resources in Game 5 to clinch, as the Edmonton Oilers took a 5-0 victory. 3.

The game started off fairly slowly, with the Oilers up 1-0 after one game. Things got wild in the second period, with a combined five goals from both teams. While the Panthers got within a point in the third, they were unable to tie the game and Connor McDavid scored an empty-net goal to put the festivities under way.

It was a four-point night for McDavid, who continues to climb the playoff points standings. His 42 points in this playoff series are five fewer than Wayne Gretzky (1985), the all-time record.

We’re here to explain it all for you. Here are our grades for both teams, along with takeaways, key players to watch, and the big unanswered questions heading into Game 6 (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+).

Panthers grade: B-

Florida came in late for Game 5 and ran out of runway to seal the deal on the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship — again.

The Panthers gave up a shorthanded goal less than six minutes into the first period, which seemed to deflate the team to the point that they didn’t recover until well into the second period. By then, the Panthers were already trailing by several goals, a deficit too difficult to overcome at the best of times – let alone against a desperate opponent.

Florida finally found its feet and looked dangerous for most of the third period, but as the Panthers’ deep skaters showed up, not enough Florida stars — Sam Reinhart? Alexander Barkov? Carter Verhaeghe? — did the same thing. Edmonton’s elite skaters performed exactly like they did on Tuesday. The Panthers’ best players better prepare to do the same in Game 6.

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Tanker rating: B+

Scoring eight goals in Game 4 allowed the Oilers to extend the series. But that didn’t guarantee they’d find cohesion in Game 5; turns out that’s what they did.

Once again, the Oilers scored the first goal and built a three-goal lead. Their power play has shifted from looking for answers to looking for more goals. They had moments where their ability to suppress shots was evident, which was the case when the Panthers failed to put up a shot in the final 14 minutes of the first half. Additionally, they blocked 26 shots in support of Stuart Skinner.

They also experienced difficult times which saw them go into survival mode. In the second period, they allowed 16 shots and two goals, including one less than 30 seconds after increasing the lead to 4-1. That second-period surge kept the Panthers within reach before Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s goal just 4:04 into the third period made life a little difficult for the Oilers. In the final period, Edmonton only had four shots while allowing 11. Still, they had just enough to pull this one away.

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What we learned in Game 5

Florida special teams problem

The Panthers did a masterful job early in the series fending off Edmonton’s powerful power play. But the Oilers have turned the tide there, and Florida is looking increasingly vulnerable in a region that was once a real force. Edmonton opened the scoring in Game 5 with a nice shorthanded goal from Connor Brown, then scored two power play goals.

Meanwhile, Florida never took advantage of its own chances, going 0 for 3 on the power play. Hotly contested series are rarely won evenly; Florida also needs to keep Edmonton at bay on special teams if it hopes to come away with a Cup.

Sergei Bobrovsky cannot win alone

Florida has relied on its outstanding goaltending throughout the playoffs. But Bobrovsky was aided by what was once remarkable defensive commitment from the players in front of him.

This has diminished over the last two games, and Bobrovsky has looked more exposed as a result. Maybe it’s the nervousness associated with trying to close out a team and win a Cup, but the once impenetrable appearance of Florida collapsing on the Oilers in the offensive zone wasn’t as evident in the first half of Game 5, and it cost the Panthers dearly. a victory.

Florida needs to get back to protecting the house and giving Bobrovsky a better chance to perform at his best.

Oilers power play unit could work well in future

Remember that time when the Oilers power play was struggling to find shots, let alone goals, and it led to questions about what went wrong? A power play goal in Game 4 was followed by two more with the extra skater advantage in Game 5.

McDavid pointed out that the Oilers are gradually finding answers to opponents’ shorthanded attacks – and he’s right. The Oilers struggled similarly early in the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars, only to score four combined power play goals in Games 5 and 6 to close out the series.

We may need to have a conversation about Evan Bouchard

Bouchard’s three assists in Game 5 do more than add to his excellent 2024 playoff run: They open a larger discussion about his place in the landscape of the game’s best young defenders.

We’ve reached a point where having a top-four option, young and able to move the puck, has almost become a necessity to win or at least be able to win in today’s NHL. Miro Heiskanen’s 26 points in 27 playoff games in 2020 helped the Stars reach the Cup final while boosting Heiskanen’s reputation. The same was true for Cale Makar in 2022 when he finished with 29 points in 20 playoff games and helped the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup.

Bouchard’s 32 points in 23 games now put him five points away from tying Oilers assistant coach Paul Coffey’s record for most points by a defenseman in a single playoff series. And for anyone who may not be familiar with Bouchard, this playoffs serves as a launching pad for him to be included in this discussion of best defenseman.

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Players to watch in Game 6

Matthew Tkachuk, LW, Panthers

It took until the fifth game, but Tkachuk finally had his best game in the Cup final on Tuesday. The Panthers’ top forward was a force at both ends of the ice, setting up teammates, scoring himself and drawing penalties. Tkachuk hadn’t yet had this kind of overall impact against Edmonton, and it was definitely needed – especially if he can channel that energy again in Game 6.

It’s no wonder that the stronger Tkachuk became, the better Florida performed throughout Game 5. He should be ready and able to set the tone in Game 6, and his teammates will be ready to follow that lead from the faceoff.

Connor McDavid, C, Oilers

Picking McDavid as a player to watch heading into Game 6 is essentially the hockey equivalent of why spring flowers are revolutionary. But at the same time, how could it not be the choice?

He went from not having a goal in the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final to just one goal and four points in Game 4. He continued in the fifth game by scoring two goals and two assists. He is now the favorite to win the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP, according to ESPN BET.

While this is the kind of production that comes with the image of the best player in hockey, let’s take a breath and remember that McDavid is doing this in a Cup Final that saw his team go from being swept to forcing a game 6.

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Big Questions for Game 6

Can the Panthers put this series away?

It’s one thing to eliminate an opponent in the first or second round of a playoff series. It’s a completely different matter for Florida to close the book on Edmonton and win the Cup.

The Panthers allowed their opponent to dictate too much early in the last two games, which put them in a position to make up ground. The Panthers have now failed to win at home or away, and Edmonton had every reason to believe they could pull off the most improbable comeback of this series.

It’s time for Florida to show its mettle by putting a dagger in the Oilers before this Cup Final reaches a Game 7 situation that frankly Florida just doesn’t want to find itself in – especially not when McDavid is playing like a human cheat code.

Did the Oilers understand the Panthers’ forecheck, and in turn, Bobrovsky?

Let’s get back to what the Oilers did in the third period of Game 3. Even though they couldn’t force overtime, they scored two goals in the final third, as many as in the series total before this point. Those goals indicated the Oilers might have found a breakthrough against the Panthers’ forecheck and, potentially, Bobrovsky.

Scoring eight goals in the fourth game reinforced that idea, making it clear that it was just one game. Scoring a shorthanded goal, a power play goal and a 5-on-5 goal in Game 5 proved the Oilers could generate chances in every sequence. McDavid’s goal that gave the Oilers a 3-0 lead capped a stretch in which the Oilers had scored 12 of the last 13 goals in the series to that point, reinforcing the belief that they may have finally finding answers to their biggest problem.