Colby Guy| Special to The Post
EDMONTON, Alberta — Once on the verge of a sweep, the Florida Panthers continued their epic collapse Friday night.
The 5-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers forces a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final to be played Monday night in Sunrise.
”Right now, if you walked in the room, there wouldn’t be a lot of happy people,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “And I’m not worried about it tonight. It doesn’t have to be right tonight. You suffered a defeat, you feel it, it hurts. You lick your wounds and then we start building that back tomorrow, but who you are tonight means nothing to who you are going to be two days from now.”
As was the theme in their first two losses in this series, the Panthers came out flat and the Oilers made them pay. Edmonton took the lead via a Warren Foegele goal 7:27 into the first period while Florida recorded just one shot through the first 14:43.
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The Oilers struck quickly in the second period, with Adam Henrique capitalizing on a defensive mishap and wiring a shot after being left wide open on a rush 46 seconds in. Aleksander Barkov appeared to pull the Panthers within one goal 10 seconds later, but the goal was called back after an offside review, much to the consternation of the Florida coaching staff and players.
Florida found its game and poured it on after that — leading 11-4 in shots in the second period — but a blocked Gustav Forsling shot turned into a Zach Hyman breakaway. He capitalized with 1:40 to go in the middle frame to make it a 3-0 game.
Barkov got the Panthers on the board, for real, after maneuvering his way past multiple Oilers defenders and stuffing the puck past Stuart Skinner 1:28 into the third period, but that was it. Edmonton shut it down, added a couple of empty-netters to knot the series at 3 and force a Game 7.
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As down as the Panthers and their fans are right now, the Oilers and their followers are ecstatic to be playing with house money after being down 0-3 in this series.
“I mean [we’re] trying to not get ahead of ourselves. We've worked so hard to pull our wayback in this series," Oilers center Mattias Janmark said. "And now we’ve got probably the hardest game to win here. So, we’ve got to reset and get ready for that game.”
Before we get to Game 7, here are three takeaways from Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final:
Florida's first-period woes continue
Since Game 4, the Panthers have been outscored 5-1 in the first period. There’s a reason for that. They came out slow, the Oilers shut down the middle of the ice and they became demoralized after a single mistake.
Edmonton blocked shot after shot and kept Florida at bay until striking first. After that, the Panthers looked demoralized for the remainder of the period. As they did in Game 5, they had a late push in the third period, but it just was not enough to overcome the weak start.
“They came out hungrier than us. I mean, they wanted it,” Florida center Carter Verhaeghe said. “That was kind of it. I think we didn’t get to our forecheck at the start and they took it to us. I think it’s for us to look at it and get better and I think we need some better starts.”
But even later in Game 6, it appeared the Oilers wanted it more than the Panthers and they kept scoring.
“Some games you’re going to score, other games you’re not going to score," Edmonton's Zach Hyman said of his sudden scoring burst. "It’s like today, [Ryan Nugent-Hopkins] makes a great block, and the puck all of a sudden is on a tee for me skating up the middle. That doesn’t happen every single game, and you can’t lose confidence because the puck isn’t going in.”
Panthers power play in shambles
One of the biggest stories of the series has been Florida’s lack of efficiency on the power play. While the Panthers mercifully avoided giving up a shorthanded goal as they did to start Games 4 and 5, the cracks were still blatantly obvious. They moved the puck too slowly, they did not put many shots toward the net, and the Oilers had an easy time snuffing them out.
Florida is now 1-for-22 on the power play in the series — and 0-for-12 in its three losses — and showing no signs of improving.
”I think we were lacking a bit of offensive speed, then that would be true of our 5-on-5 game,” Maurice said. “We’re getting jammed into corners, so we’ll look at places where we can generate speed or keep our speed.”
Pressure makes diamonds? Maybe not
Ever since the pressure flipped to the Panthers to close out the series, they have faltered. They are not as heavy on the forecheck, they aren’t getting many bodies to the net and they are playing a casual, sloppy game.
Those are keystone signs of an epic collapse. If they don’t get it together in Game 7, this could go down as one of the greatest flops in NHL history.
More: Stanley Cup: Panthers fans disheartened by poor play vs. Oilers as series turns to Game 7
”Mentally, I would say we were ready, but there were things in the game where some things happen and they get their chances,” Barkov said. “They played in our zone and they generated chances. So obviously, we know we need to get better.”
Meanwhile, the Oilers are flying high — and we're not just talking about their trip back to Sunrise.
“I hope I’m never in a position that I’m down 0-3 that we have to do this again. I hope we’re never in that spot," said Edmonton's Hyman. "It’s not a fun spot to be in down there. Having said that, you have an opportunity to do something unbelievable, right? I think we have an opportunity to do something really, really special … That's why sports are amazing. Because the unthinkable can happen, and we're in a spot where we thought it could happen when I guess nobody believed that it could, and we have an opportunity now.”
STANLEY CUP FINAL
Oilers at Panthers, Game 7 (Series tied 3-3)
Monday, 8 p.m., ABC
