“The Oilers are not dead yet:” Hockey’s elder statesmen brings the Game 3 heat for Edmonton vs Florida Panthers

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This in from the hockey world’s grand elder statesman, New Yoork hockey columnist Stan Fischler on the Edmonton Oilers heading into Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final with two straight losses to the Florida Panthers: “We haven’t seen the Real Edmonton Oilers yet. We have seen the real Florida Panthers. They are impressive but still have two games to win. The Oilers are not dead yet.”

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One more key quote heading into Game 3 comes from Connor McDavid on Edmonton’s power play: “We usually solve penalty kills, and I would expect us to figure this one out, too.”

But from ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski comes a sane word of caution: “Not only are you not playing well, but you’re also beat up. So I don’t know the path back.”

Wyshysnki, who picked the Oilers to win this series in six, added: “There’s definitely going to be criticism of McDavid and Draisaitl especiall if the power play goes o-fer.”

With Evander Kane and Darnell Nurse missing practice due to injury, the lines today were:

RNH – McDavid – Hyman
McLeod – Draisaitl – Holloway
Janmark – Henrique – Brown
Foegele – Carrick/Ryan – Perry

Ekholm – Bouchard
Gleason – Desharnais
Kulak – Broberg
Kemp – Ceci

Skinner
Pickard

My take

1 Fischler, 92, but he’s an inspiration, still working full-time. He never let the old man in, despite slogging many hard miles over eight decades. Stan the Hockey Man started to cover the NHL in the 1954-55 season, the same year that Don Cherry, two years his junior, began his pro career with the Hershey Bears and played the one NHL game he ever would, a playoff game for the Boston Bruins. I spent my youth reading Fischler’s Hockey New column. Glad to see Fischler is going as strong as ever and offering up both a hopeful and reasonable opinion on the Cup Final.

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2. Why aren’t the Oilers out of it? Because they still have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, because their team defence has so far limited Florida to 17 Grade A shots in two games, while the Oilers have put up 24, because Edmonton could have taken either Game 1 or Game 2 with a few good bounces their way, because Edmonton’s power play is always dangerous, and because the energy of the world’s best home crowd is about to inject new life into their weary and injured bodies, pushing them to ride the roar of the crowd to a desperately needed win.

3. All that said, Wyshynski’s comment was also reasonable. It’s hard to see the path back, not because Edmonton has played poorly, but because the games are so close, 50/50 coin flips, and Edmonton must now win four out of the next five flips. It must do so with a team that is clearly beat up, with numerous key players hurting, including Edmonton’s top two hard men of hockey, Darnell Nurse and Evander Kane. It’s also a difficult task because Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is so good, a big reason Florida has let in just one goal against, not the expected six goals against you’d generally get from 24 Grade A shots.

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4. I love the new lines, specifically the second and third lines. Mattias Janmark, Adam Henrique and Connor Brown makes for an effective forechecking and backchecking third unit, while the speed of Ryan McLeod and Dylan Holloway is just what the doctor ordered to team up with Draisaitl. Their speed should open up time and space for Draisaitl to concoct his tricky plays. If McLeod hits and goes to the net, so much the better.

5. As for Edmonton’s power play, one key is for players not to pass up on wide-open shots, such as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins did on a second period power play.

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At the Cult of Hockey

McCURDY: All mix things up for Game 3

STAPLES: Panthers employing time-honoured hack-and-whack style vs. McDavid

STAPLES: Fancy that! Draisaitl deserves suspension, agree Canucks, Kings & Flames pundits

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