Edmonton Oilers’ Frustration Builds With 3-0 Deficit In The Stanley Cup Final

EDMONTON, Alberta – Though they were perhaps the superior team in two of the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers, the Edmonton Oilers are on the verge of elimination after failing to mount a third-period comeback.

Three-time NHL MVP Connor McDavid leads the way, whose team coach Kris Knoblauch feels will eventually capitalize on the abundance of opportunities and pucks going in the net. The angst was palpable following a 4-3 setback in Game 3 on Thursday night, though, and time is running out to make that breakthrough.

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Edmonton Oilers’ Frustration Builds With 3-0 Deficit In The Stanley Cup Final

It irritates me much, Leon Draisaitl stated. We are certainly shooting a lot. We are unable to cross the finish line.

Unlike their loss in Florida in Game 2, the Oilers had much more high-danger scoring opportunities and outshot the Panthers 35-23. With five minutes remaining, they slanted the ice toward Sergei Bobrovsky and reduced their deficit from three goals to one, but they could not go past him once more to force overtime.

We still get our looks, Draisaitl remarked. It isn’t easy to recover when you spend most of the evening pursuing the game.

Five shots by McDavid alone were on goal, including a one-timer that Bobrovsky slid across to stop after a power play ended. He assisted Philip Broberg in his third goal, but he remains goalless on his first career trip to the final.

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Edmonton Oilers’ Frustration Builds With 3-0 Deficit In The Stanley Cup Final

While McDavid is not the only one having trouble, he and his teammates are trying to figure out the Panthers before it’s too late.

There have been good and horrible stretches, McDavid remarked. “Obviously, we’re trying to figure them out.”

It seemed late in Game 3 that they had. Ryan McLeod flicked a puck past Bobrovsky to close the score to one with 5:17 left, more than eight minutes after Broberg scored. The pressure continued when goalie Stuart Skinner was pulled for an extra player, but the time struck zero, sending Florida into celebration mode as the first championship in franchise history was just one win away.

The Washington Capitals in 1998 and the Detroit Red Wings in 1999 were the last teams to be swept in a final. It has only happened four times in NHL playoff history—Toronto in 1942 was the last team to return from a 3-0 deficit.

Draisaitl replied, “Right now it’s a steep hill.”

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Edmonton Oilers’ Frustration Builds With 3-0 Deficit In The Stanley Cup Final

The Oilers hope to start climbing this high hill with the fuel from their near comeback.

Frustration and resigning are not the same thing, Knoblauch added. No quitting exists. Everyone thinks we can pull this off. We simply must never give up.

SOURCE – (AP)