The Edmonton Oilers were beaten at Rogers Place for the first time this season, falling 6-2 to the Florida Panthers Sunday afternoon.
“The first shift of the first period and the first shift of the second period, we weren’t very good in each of those shift, and you could just see the momentum go from there,” Oilers coach Dave Tippett said.
LISTEN BELOW: Dave Tippett
The Oilers had started the year 5-0 at home.
“We didn’t give ourselves the chance today. They played the right way…the way we want to play,” Oilers defenceman Oscar Klefbom said.
LISTEN BELOW: Oscar Klefbom
Oilers goalie Mike Smith was shaken up after making a save late in the first period. As the play continued, he tended goal on his knees for several seconds until the Oilers cleared the puck. Smith stayed in the game and finished the period.
Early in the second period, the Panthers took control of the game with three goals in 2:05. Aaron Ekblad beat Smith over the glove. Brian Boyle walked across the top of the crease and roofed a shot.
“It was a cool goal because we had a huge block right before then by Jayce and then (Connolly) won three or four battles just to get an opportunity for me so that was good momentum for our line,” Boyle said.
Noel Acciari walked in after a turnover and scored on a wrist shot. Smith was pulled after allowing three goals on 13 shots.
“They score three goals in two minutes and that’s a big hole to climb out of,” Connor McDavid said. We just weren’t good enough all over, all night.”
“It’s definitely fun to watch, how they dominate offensively,” Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said. “It’s giving me energy too. It’s definitely fun to watch how smart they play offensively, and how beautiful it is.”
Evgeni Dadonov scored on a wraparound in the first minute of the third to make it 4-0. James Neal came back with a power-play goal a few minutes later — his 10th tally of the season.
“We’ve got to learn from this and just focus on the next game here,” Klefbom said. “We’re still off to a good start and we still want to have that positive energy going in the group, but we still have to learn from this.”
Leon Draisaitl converted a rebound to pull the Oilers within two with 6:42 left, but Frank Vatrano iced it with an empty-net goal with 1:25 to go. Jayce Hawryluck added one more in the final minute.
“We want to jump on games earlier, rather than waiting for something bad to happen to jump out and grab it,” McDavid said. “Starts are something we’ve always talked about here so we’ve got to find a way to be better off the hop.”
LISTEN BELOW: Connor McDavid
The Oilers start a three-game road trip Tuesday in Detroit.
“We’ve got a pretty good identity of who we think we are, but we have to get more consistency in doing it,” Tippett said.
–with files from 630 CHED’s Brenden Escott and Scott Johnston