No pressure.With the eyes of the entire country on them, the Edmonton Oilers came up short in their first Stanley Cup appearance since 2006, dropping a Game 1 decision to the Florida Panthers by 3-0 deficit.It wasn’t for lack of trying. The clearly hungry Oilers put 32 shots on Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky — including a half dozen heart stopping AA chances — but just couldn’t solve the 35-year old Russian netminder.It wasn’t that the Oilers were particularly bad. The Panthers certainly weren’t particularly better. It was just that their goalie was hands down the best player on the ice.It was almost a complete reverse of the Oilers’ Game 6 win over Dallas where they were outshot 3:1 and still managed to come out on top 2-1..“This is going to be a long series,”Oilers’ great Wayne Gretzky.Bobrovsky, who was named the the game’s first star, stopped all the Oilers’ big guns — McDavid, Draisatl and Ryan Nugent Hopkins — on point blank on breakaways, including a huge stop on #97 less than two minutes in.One second period marker was even called back although it looked to be good on replay. But Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch chose not to challenge it.The Oilers played their style of game but came up short on special teams. Even though the penalty kill went 11 games without allowing a goal, the much vaunted power play was 0-3. All through the playoffs, the Oilers have found success when they’ve got contributions from their third and fourth lines. When the muckers show up the A Team can take over. But that didn’t happen Saturday.But after the visitors went down 1-0 early, on a goal by Carter Verhaeghe at 3:59 of the first period, it was on the front lines to carry the load. McDavid alone logged more than 25 minutes and by the end of the game he was clearly running on fumes..The Oilers’ leading scorer was kept off the scoresheet, and took a beating in the corners. He was constantly grilled by the likes of Sam Bennett who clipped him on the chin with a high stick and came back sporting a red band-aid to match his beard. The Panthers came out ahead in the hit department, hands down, with 62 licks to 35 for the Oilers. The much vaunted Evander Kane was largely invisible.After the Oilers failed to score on a power play to open the second period, the Panthers’ Evan Rodrigues slipped one past the Oilers’ Stuart Skinner on a misplay by D-man Darnel Nurse at 2:18. Nurse was on the ice for both Panther goals and is -16 in the playoffs..Although Skinner only faced 18 shots, he couldn’t really be faulted on either of the Panther goals. Eetu Luostarinen finished the rout with an empty netter with five seconds left, at 19:55.The game was also notable for a first intermission appearance by former Oiler great Wayne Gretzky on the Hockey Night in Canada panel. Gretz, who lives in Florida these days, said he’s familiar with both teams and urged his former Oilers to keep up the fight.Noting that they were stonewalled by Bobrovsky he also credited the visitors with sticking to their game and advised them to keep shooting and stay out of the box. “This is going to be a long series,” he said. “We showed tonight we can clearly play with them,” McDavid said after the game. “Theyr’e as advertised. They’re exactly what they look like on TV.”Added Oilers’ coach Knoblauch: “That’s why this is a seven game series.”Game 2 goes in Florida on Monday, June 10 starting at 6 pm MST.
No pressure.With the eyes of the entire country on them, the Edmonton Oilers came up short in their first Stanley Cup appearance since 2006, dropping a Game 1 decision to the Florida Panthers by 3-0 deficit.It wasn’t for lack of trying. The clearly hungry Oilers put 32 shots on Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky — including a half dozen heart stopping AA chances — but just couldn’t solve the 35-year old Russian netminder.It wasn’t that the Oilers were particularly bad. The Panthers certainly weren’t particularly better. It was just that their goalie was hands down the best player on the ice.It was almost a complete reverse of the Oilers’ Game 6 win over Dallas where they were outshot 3:1 and still managed to come out on top 2-1..“This is going to be a long series,”Oilers’ great Wayne Gretzky.Bobrovsky, who was named the the game’s first star, stopped all the Oilers’ big guns — McDavid, Draisatl and Ryan Nugent Hopkins — on point blank on breakaways, including a huge stop on #97 less than two minutes in.One second period marker was even called back although it looked to be good on replay. But Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch chose not to challenge it.The Oilers played their style of game but came up short on special teams. Even though the penalty kill went 11 games without allowing a goal, the much vaunted power play was 0-3. All through the playoffs, the Oilers have found success when they’ve got contributions from their third and fourth lines. When the muckers show up the A Team can take over. But that didn’t happen Saturday.But after the visitors went down 1-0 early, on a goal by Carter Verhaeghe at 3:59 of the first period, it was on the front lines to carry the load. McDavid alone logged more than 25 minutes and by the end of the game he was clearly running on fumes..The Oilers’ leading scorer was kept off the scoresheet, and took a beating in the corners. He was constantly grilled by the likes of Sam Bennett who clipped him on the chin with a high stick and came back sporting a red band-aid to match his beard. The Panthers came out ahead in the hit department, hands down, with 62 licks to 35 for the Oilers. The much vaunted Evander Kane was largely invisible.After the Oilers failed to score on a power play to open the second period, the Panthers’ Evan Rodrigues slipped one past the Oilers’ Stuart Skinner on a misplay by D-man Darnel Nurse at 2:18. Nurse was on the ice for both Panther goals and is -16 in the playoffs..Although Skinner only faced 18 shots, he couldn’t really be faulted on either of the Panther goals. Eetu Luostarinen finished the rout with an empty netter with five seconds left, at 19:55.The game was also notable for a first intermission appearance by former Oiler great Wayne Gretzky on the Hockey Night in Canada panel. Gretz, who lives in Florida these days, said he’s familiar with both teams and urged his former Oilers to keep up the fight.Noting that they were stonewalled by Bobrovsky he also credited the visitors with sticking to their game and advised them to keep shooting and stay out of the box. “This is going to be a long series,” he said. “We showed tonight we can clearly play with them,” McDavid said after the game. “Theyr’e as advertised. They’re exactly what they look like on TV.”Added Oilers’ coach Knoblauch: “That’s why this is a seven game series.”Game 2 goes in Florida on Monday, June 10 starting at 6 pm MST.
