Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk highlighted the high stakes for Monday night's Game 7 before puck drop. The Edmonton Oilers had a chance to rally from a 3-0 series deficit to win the Stanley Cup Final against Florida. The drought of teams rallying from down 3-0 will live on for another year, as the Panthers took the Stanley Cup with a 2-1 victory. Some noticeable names for the Oilers are to blame for this loss.
It would be the first time a team managed to erase that deficit since the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942. Those Maple Leafs remain the only team to erase that deficit thanks to Florida's Game 7 win. However, everyone knew that no matter how bad the Panthers looked over the previous three games, they wouldn't go down without a fight.
The Panthers were hot out of the gate, as Carter Verhaeghe scored his first goal since Game 1. Mattias Janmark, the Oilers' most noticeable player in this one, evened the game later in the period. The Panthers forwards needed to get back on track in this game, and they did when Sam Reinhart sniped one off the rush to give them a 2-1 lead.
No one could have guessed that a 2-1 goal in the second period would be enough to hold on, but the Panthers played some of the best shutdown defense we've seen in a long time to hold off the Oilers' high-powered offensive attack.
Connor McDavid vanished when the Oilers needed him most
Connor McDavid had a lot of hype surrounding him entering Game 6. He was five points away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's points record for a single postseason and two wins away from his first Stanley Cup. The Oilers won without him contributing in Game 6, but they needed him to step up in Game 7. However, he was a no-show for most of the first two periods.
McDavid failed to record a point in back-to-back games for the first time this postseason and the first time since November 10th and 11th. According to Natural Stat Trick, McDavid had just 0.25 expected goals through the game's first two periods and upped that number to 1.1 by the end. Considering McDavid and Draisaitl were over the boards for every offensive zone faceoff, the numbers for McDavid weren't good enough.
McDavid had numerous chances to tie the game in the third period, but Sergei Bobrovsky and the stingy Panthers defense was up to the task. It's hard to blame the playoffs' leading points-getter, the new postseason assists record-holder, and the Conn Smythe Trophy winner. However, the Oilers will be looking at their captain as one of the ones to blame for this singular loss.
Leon Draisaitl is most to blame
Connor McDavid may be the one most to blame for the Game 7 loss, but Leon Draisaitl will bear the weight of the series. Draisaitl arguably had one successful period during this Stanley Cup Final, making a pretty assist to Warren Foegele to open the scoring in Game 6.
Draisaitl's performance kept getting poorer as the playoffs continued. He had ten points in five games in Round 1 against the Kings and 13 points in seven games against the Canucks in Round 2. Draisaitl's form started going downhill in Round 3 against the Stars when he had four points in six games, but he saved his worst for last in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Draisaitl had three assists in seven games during the final and went scoreless in five of those seven. There will be a lot of stories written about the Oilers after this series, but Leon Draisaitl's performance will be the most prominent. The Oilers had a great run and comeback against the Panthers, but their stars are most to blame for the Game 7 defeat.
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