There are a couple questions making the rounds as the Edmonton Oilers prepare to play another elimination game on Tuesday night in the Stanley Cup Final.
Are the Florida Panthers, who were blown out 8-1 in Saturday’s Game 4 in Edmonton and gave netminder Sergei Bobrovsky the hook in the second period, showing signs of fatigue or cracking?
Or, did the Panthers who entered Game 4 in the best-of-seven series with a 3-0 lead, simply have a bad night in an otherwise brilliant post-season run?
The Oilers, who scored four goals in the first three games of the championship series, scored eight goals in Game 4. The Panthers, who only allowed one goal in the first two games at home, coughed up 11 in the two games in Edmonton.
Captain Connor McDavid, who enjoyed a four-point outing for the Oilers in Game 4, insisted his squad still has a huge hole to climb out of to get the series back to Alberta for Game 6, but acknowledged the confidence and momentum are in his team’s favour.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice, one win away from hoisting the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, still likes his club’s chances to win it all.
“I don’t believe in momentum carrying over from game to game because I would have been wrong at 3-0,” said Maurice. “We went to Edmonton to get at least a split, and we got what we needed.
” … We weren’t sitting in Edmonton at 3-0 getting the engravers out. We’re focused on getting one more win. I like our position.”
Edmonton will try to become the first team in Stanley Cup final history to win Game 5 on the road after falling behind 3-0 in the series.