Connor McDavid #97 and Leon Draisaitl #29 of the Edmonton Oilers react after a goal by the Florida Panthers during the second period in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.Mike Carlson/Getty Images
You can’t call it a curse unless it afflicts those who deserve better.
None of the handful of Canadian teams that have gotten within grabbing distance of the Stanley Cup over the last 30-odd years have better reason to feel hard done than these Edmonton Oilers.
They feature not only the best player in the world, but maybe the second best. After last year’s finals loss, they sealed up their defensive cracks, tweaked their chemistry and added key pieces. Yet somehow things turned out worse.
On Tuesday night, the Florida Panthers claimed their second Stanley Cup in row after a 5-1 Game 6 victory. The title puts them in the same bracket as Sidney Crosby and his golden age Penguins – not quite a dynasty yet, but well on their way.
The Panthers topped the Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final to win their second straight title after also beating Edmonton in last year's NHL title series.
The Canadian Press
Just ahead of the game, Connor McDavid tried to do his best Mark Messier during a locker room interview – “We’re gonna win.”
The problem with that sentence was the pronoun. McDavid and a handful of his teammates have been good enough to take the big prize, but Florida had the far better ‘we’ in the equation. Some Oilers excelled over the course of six games, while every single Panther did.
There have been better clubs in NHL history, but you’re beginning to wonder if there’s been a better back-to-front playoff team. Florida tries, relentlessly. No other team in the league tries as hard as they do.
As is their habit, both teams were so bloodless in the prelims that they approached exsanguination.
Panthers comfortably beat Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 to win second straight Stanley Cup
Matthew Tkachuk spoke of Florida’s “tiny advantage,” while Leon Draisaitl offered a deep thought on how to win: “Play better.” Both sides emphasized “getting to your game” as quickly as possible.
If this series had a tactical theme, that was it. Invariably, one side came out like the supplements were hitting a little harder that night, while the other rolled into the party 15 minutes after the time on the invite.
With that in mind, Edmonton emerged out of a catapult. For five minutes, they did what nobody does to the Panthers – they pushed them around. They got no satisfaction from it, other than the knowledge that it’s possible. As much as anything, those first five minutes will haunt them. That they could do it, and didn’t do it nearly enough.
The slight early advantage collapsed when Florida’s Sam Reinhart stole a puck just outside of the Edmonton end. Rather than slip between the two Oiler defenders in his way, he squeezed through them with elbows swinging. While falling in front of the Oilers goal, Reinhart roofed one over Stuart Skinner. It wasn’t the prettiest goal of these finals, but it may have been the best. It was the first of four on the night for Reinhart.
If they’d cut the crowd noise after that first goal, you would have heard the air begin to leak out of the Oilers.
Fans of the Edmonton Oilers say they are devastated after the Florida Panthers defeated the team 5-1 to raise the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row. They say they expected more from the hometown team, but there’s always next year.
The Canadian Press
From that point on, Florida did the shoving. It wasn’t overwhelming, but it was consistent. Despite their quality, the Panthers aren’t a team that breaks your back. What they do is bump you again and again, until they have sapped your will.
The next blow came right before the end of the first period – a Florida swarm resulting in a Tkachuk goal with less than a minute remaining. In the last four games, the Oilers have been outscored 9-0 in the first period. That’s not a goalie problem. That’s a club problem.
Before the game started, it already felt like Edmonton had managed to contort themselves into a goalie controversy of their own devising. All the switching back and forth between Skinner and Calvin Pickard had taken on its own destabilizing, narrative gravity. The more people ask, the worse it gets.
Over at the other end, Sergei Bobrovsky was proving the value of consistency. The Russian could let in 10 goals on nine shots and Panthers coach Paul Maurice would come out in the post-game and talk about how great he is.
Bobrovsky rewards that confidence with a steady stream of hits, and the occasional banger. Tuesday was a club classic. Bobrovsky was so in command of his area, he looked like he could cover a soccer goal. If the Oilers were getting Panther’d overall, they were mostly getting Bob’d.
Sam Reinhart #13 of the Florida Panthers celebrates with Aaron Ekblad #5 after scoring his fourth goal of the game against the Edmonton Oilers during the third period in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
At the other end, Skinner left on an island. Five Oilers stood around watching while Florida floated the puck around, resulting in the third goal. As ever, it happened at the worst possible time – shortly before the second intermission.
The last time this sort of thing happened in Game 4, Corey Perry blew everyone’s doors back during a break and the Oilers perked up. This time, the Panthers didn’t weaken.
Once again, the Oilers are left wondering if they are squandering a generational gift. That’s the negative view.
The positive outlook is that there are worse things than being the second-best team in hockey. Like being second-best twice in a row.