Oilers unravel against Panthers, now chase Stanley Cup Final

SUNRISE, Fla. — Falling behind early, parading to the penalty box and losing grip of their composure, the Edmonton Oilers find themselves in an all-too-familiar position: trailing the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers.

Not much went right for them in Game 3 on Monday night, a 6-1 blowout that put them down 2-1 in the series after taking the opener at home. Many of their 85 penalty minutes, the most by a team in the Final in nearly four decades, came in garbage time, but there is far more concern about the mistakes that piled up to put them in a hole.

“We didn’t play very well,” said Evander Kane, who was whistled for two of his three minor penalties in a miserable first period and got a misconduct late. “That’s evident. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We can definitely be a lot better.”

Stuart Skinner got pulled after allowing five goals on 23 shots, but captain Connor McDavid acknowledged, “I don’t know how much we’re going to put on Stu.”

The play in front of him was disjointed and disconnected, at 5 on 5, on the power play and on the penalty kill.

If not for Skinner, the score could have gotten out of hand much earlier because the Western Conference champions had their worst showing since perhaps the first couple of games of the playoffs.

“It was a weird game,” McDavid said. “Obviously it wasn’t our best — not our best at all. I don’t think our best has shown up all series long. But it’s coming. We’ll shift the focus to finding a way to get a win in Game 4.”

Even with an extra day off before Game 4 on Thursday night, coach Kris Knoblauch scheduled practice for his team Tuesday afternoon. There was much to discuss and improve.

“Collectively, goaltender, defense, all our forwards, we all have to be better,” Knoblauch said. “They played a heck of a game, and we’re going to have to raise ours.”

Being more disciplined is a good place to start.

After giving up a goal to Brad Marchand 56 seconds in, Edmonton took four minor penalties in the first period. The dam eventually broke on a power-play goal that made it too tough a deficit to overcome.

“Almost half the period you’re killing, so it’s not a good way to get into your game,” McDavid said. “Never got to our game.”

The Oilers’ play was almost indistinguishable from how they’ve looked for much of this run, getting balanced scoring and star performances from McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Ill-timed defensive breakdowns proved costly, and players lost their cool — like Jake Walman squirting water at Panthers players on their bench from his place on the visiting side.

“I obviously did that for a reason,” Walman said, reluctant to explain why. “It’s just gamesmanship, I guess.”

By the time brawls ensued in the third period, the game was out of hand. Players downplayed the margin of defeat, quick to try to spin their thoughts forward to what they need to do to tie the final.

“We know what we’re going to be up against,” Skinner said. “It doesn’t change how we’re going to respond again. We’ve got two days to come back, and I think there’s some things that we’re going to have to change.”

That could mean lineup changes and certainly some major adjustments by Knoblauch and his staff. The Oilers also need to be better prepared to play in Game 4, perhaps channeling the pain from back-to-back losses.

“Losing in the playoffs, whether it’s in Round 1, Game 1 or the Stanley Cup Final, it’s never a good feeling, but we’ve been here before,” Kane said. “We’ve been down in series before, and we’ve had tough losses. It will sting right now, and we’ll flush it tomorrow and get ready for Thursday.”