Panthers earn victory in Stanley Cup sweep: 5 takeaways

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EDMONTON — As the Florida Panthers repeatedly said Thursday morning, their late arrival in Edmonton Wednesday night after being delayed by torrential storms in South Florida didn’t mean hunkering down. Not the rabid pro-Edmonton Oilers crowd or anything else.

“It’s us against everyone,” Matthew Tkachuk said after the morning skate.

And, just as they did in the first three rounds, the Panthers prevail, suddenly one win away from the first Stanley Cup sweep since 1998 after Thursday’s 4-3 victory over the Oilers at Rogers Place.

Vladimir Tarasenko, Sam Bennett and Aleksander Barkov scored 6:19 apart in the second period to open a 1-1 game, and Sergei Bobrovsky was once again outstanding early and finished with 32 saves for his 15th victory in the playoffs. Florida is now 7-2 on the road in the postseason.

The Panthers had to fend off an Oilers rally in the third period when Edmonton scored goals from Philip Broberg and Ryan McLeod. Bobrovsky then robbed McLeod at close range in the final minutes.

Warren Foegele also scored for the Oilers and Sam Reinhart had the Panthers’ other goal.

Teams with a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final series have an all-time record of 27-1 (.964). The Toronto Maple Leafs recovered from a 3-0 tie against the Detroit Red Wings in 1942.

“It’s disappointing to be down 3-0. We have to let that reality sink in,” Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner said after the game. “I’m not really sure what the statistics come out of it, but if anyone can do it, it’s oil.”

“The work is not done,” added the Panthers’ Bennett. “We have a lot of work to do.”

Here are five takeaways from how the Panthers pulled off the sweep victory.

Panthers’ depth proves superior

The Panthers have too many threats and they are spread out across the lineup.

Florida’s first three goals Thursday night were scored by members of the first (Reinhart), second (Bennett) and third (Tarasenko) lines, and the Oilers simply don’t have the forward depth to keep up nor the ability to check line by line. with the way their blue line played.

The Panthers have kept Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman off the board in this series, and Foegele and McLeod have the only goals for the Oilers forwards.

Oilers roster rebuild not working

The removal of injured Evander Kane from the lineup was the biggest change made by coach Kris Knoblauch before Game 3. But he wasn’t the only one. Far from there.

Corey Perry arrived after being scratched for the sixth time in the playoffs and started on the second line alongside Draisaitl and McLeod. Perry and McLeod represented two new wingers for Draisaitl.

Adam Henrique returned to center for Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown. Derek Ryan played his first game of the final, replacing Sam Carrick, and mainly skated between Dylan Holloway and Foegele.

On defense, Cody Ceci was reinserted and paired with Brett Kulak. Darnell Nurse, who was limited to just three shifts after the first period of Game 2 and just 4:20 overall, suited up and was paired with Broberg.

Not that any of the changes blew up in Knoblauch’s face. It’s just that none of them gave much. In the third period, Draisaitl and McDavid were together and rotating with different wingers to make their push.

The backbreaking goal against was Florida’s third, scored by second-line Bennett. It happened with Nurse and Broberg on the ice – and following a turnover by the former – moments after Ryan’s line jumped over the boards.

That line had been shortened following a Panthers icing so Knoblauch could load in with McDavid, Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm. He ended up finding himself caught in a disconnect.

Barkov gave the Panthers a 4-1 lead just 1:34 after Bennett’s goal.

Bobrovsky brilliant in the first two periods

Three games into the series, Bobrovsky has allowed four goals, with Thursday being the biggest test he faced early in the game.

He made 13 saves in the first period – five on the power play – with stops on Bouchard, Draisaitl and McDavid on the power play, then 15 more in the second period.

But where he really proved his worth was preserving the 1-1 tie in the second period with back-to-back great saves against Hyman and McDavid. Thirty-eight seconds later, Tarasenko made it 2-1.

Where are the Oilers’ goals?

It’s not like the Oilers’ superstars haven’t had a chance in this series. That was certainly the case on Thursday as well.

On the first period’s power plays alone, the Oilers’ best had four excellent chances. Bobrovsky has just received a hit on a McDavid shot from the slot. Draisaitl’s one-timer was stopped by Bobrovsky. A Bouchard explosion was reversed. Draisaitl set McDavid up for a precision shot, which the Panthers goalie gobbled up.

Hyman and McDavid also had those chances in the second period. But nothing.

The Oilers scored four goals in the series – one by Ekholm in Game 2 and the others by Foegele, Broberg and McLeod on Thursday. They are not their drivers.

Edmonton entered the series with the top three playoff scorers in McDavid, Bouchard and Draisaitl. McDavid had three assists, including on the Oilers’ final two goals in Game 3. Bouchard has one. Draisaitl did not score a point.

“It’s very frustrating, of course,” Draisaitl said. “I pride myself on being good in the playoffs and playing well, and I just can’t find it…to get anything going.” Yeah, I obviously have to look in the mirror and try to be better.

Nugent-Hopkins, tied for fourth on the scoring list, is also useless. The same goes for Hyman, the playoffs’ leading scorer.

Of all the things that put the Oilers on the brink of elimination, a lack of production from their big guns is at the top of the list.

Brutal end to first period for the Oilers

After the Oilers failed to score on back-to-back power plays in the first period, the referees dealt a late four-on-four after a 10-man scrum following a save by Bobrovsky on Ceci.

Thirty-one seconds later, it was 1-0 for the Panthers after Barkov stole a puck high in the zone from Bouchard, then beat him so the puck slipped to Gustav Forsling. The defenseman spotted Reinhart driving the net and sent a pass straight off his blade for the winger’s ninth goal of the playoffs with 62 seconds left in the period.

It was Forsling’s eighth assist of the postseason, tying Panthers broadcaster Ed Jovanovski’s 1996 team record for a defenseman in a single postseason. Forsling’s 12 points are one behind Brandon Montour’s team record for a defenseman, set in the last playoffs.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)





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