Subscribe
Follow Us
The last time the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers met at Rogers Place, Connor McDavid's club forced a winner-take-all Game 7 after winning 5-1 in Game 6 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final back in June. But on Monday night, it was Florida coming out on top in Edmonton, prevailing 6-5 in the first meeting between the two clubs since the thrilling championship conclusion.
“It’s disappointing obviously,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after the narrow defeat, per NHL.com's Derek Van Diest. “I thought we had it in control, and we have to find a way to win that one.”
The Oilers did seem in control for most of the game, leading 4-2 near the end of the second period. But Kris Knoblauch's team allowed the Cats to score three unanswered goals, one in the second and two in the third.
Edmonton forward Kasperi Kapanen knotted the score at 5-5 midway through the final frame before Carter Verhaeghe scored the eventual game winner for Florida five minutes later.
“I thought it was an entertaining game, I thought it was fun to be a part of, two good teams that were playing hard and playing fast,” McDavid continued. “Obviously, we’d like to clean up the defensive side a little bit, but I thought it was an entertaining game.
“Obviously, we would have loved to find a way to win, too. We put ourselves in a good spot to do that, and it didn’t come through.”
After failing to score a single goal over back-to-back losses against the Vancouver Canucks (3-0) and Calgary Flames (4-0) last week, the Panthers' offense exploded on Monday, even without the services of captain Aleksander Barkov, who missed the contest with an illness.
Stuart Skinner has been great as of late, but he struggled, giving up six goals on 28 shots in the defeat. It was certainly a disappointing result for the Oilers, but despite it, the team continues to win prolifically — and surge up the Western Conference in the process.
Oilers still surging despite tough loss to Panthers
Before Monday, Edmonton had been on a tear, winning five games in a row and eight of nine dating back to November 23. Now 18-11-2, the Oilers are back into a top-three spot in the Pacific Division, currently just five points back of the first-place Vegas Golden Knights.
The roster has been playing excellent hockey as of late and is again looking like the team that marched all the way to the Stanley Cup Final six months ago. Still, if there was any regular-season game the Oilers would have particularly enjoyed winning this year, it probably would have been this one.
“They’re a good team. You can see tonight how both teams made it far,” said Panthers forward Sam Bennett, per Van Diest. “They’ve got so much speed, so much high-end talent, they’re going to put some pucks in the net, but I thought for the most part, we defended well and did what we needed to do to win tonight.”
The Oilers remain without a Stanley Cup since 1990, and losing the consolation prize didn't provide any kind of silver lining. Regardless, Edmonton should again be knocking on the door next spring as McDavid continues his quest toward a championship.
