June 8, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Stanley Cup Final is under way. The Florida Panthers escaped with a 3-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers. It’s hard to say that a team that won 3-0 “escaped” with a win, but that’s exactly what happened in this game. The Oilers outshot the Panthers 32-18 and got shutout.

Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers up 1-0 on their first shot of the game 3:59 into the game. Evan Rodrigues got one early in the second period to put the Panthers up by two goals. Eetu Luostarinen capped off the win with an empty netter in the closing moments of the game. Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves to earn the shutout. He was simply sensational in Game 1.

Call Outs

I hate to call out Stuart Skinner because I didn’t think he played that poorly, but he gave up a goal on the first shot of the game for the eleventh time this season (regular season and playoffs). That leads the league. The Oilers can’t afford to be chasing games in the Stanley Cup Final as a result of a goal against on the first shot of the game.

Most of you will want me to call out Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci here. I’m not going to do it. Aleksander Barkov beat Connor McDavid down the ice on the Panthers’ first goal. Nurse had Sam Reinhart on the left side. Reinhart and Barkov made a give-and-go play on Nurse. Ceci had to slide over to cover Barkov (McDavid’s man) once he got the return pass from Reinhart. He might’ve been a fraction of a second late on the read, but he was still in position to potentially block the cross-crease pass. Ceci was not able to block the cross-crease pass, and Verhaeghe put it home. Zach Hyman stopped skating on the back check and failed to tie up Verhaeghe.

Sam Bennett dumped the puck in and tracked it down behind the goal line on the second goal. Ceci pinned Bennett on the end boards, but Bennett was still able to get the puck out front. Nurse was standing in front of the net (as is his responsibility in that situation in the zone defence that the Oilers play), and he couldn’t intercept the pass. It went over his stick. He looked bad there, but I put the blame on Evander Kane. He was closer to the Oilers goal than Rodrigues (the eventual goal scorer) when Rodrigues entered the zone, but Rodrigues beat Kane to the slot. Kane was caught napping on that play.

To recap, both Panthers goals were the result of one or more Oilers forwards getting beat to the dangerous area on the back check off the rush. I’m not heaping a pile of criticism on Nurse and Ceci for what happened in Game 1.

The Oilers missed two open nets in this game. Hyman made a nice move to go to the backhand on the Oilers powerplay at the start of the second period, but he somehow lifted the puck over the net from close range. It was impressive that he got the puck up that quickly, but it was a missed opportunity to get the Oilers back in the game. The net wasn’t quite as open for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the Oilers’ next powerplay mid-way through the second period, but he fired it wide. Bobrovsky did a barrel roll to make himself as big as possible, and it was enough to get Nugent-Hopkins to miss the net. It could’ve been a different game had one of those second period open net looks turned into a goal.

Stand Outs

I really liked Adam Henrique’s game in Game 1. He had a breakaway chance in the first period thanks to a lovely touch pass from Mattias Janmark. Henrique had one other scoring chance as well, but he couldn’t quite bang it home. The high danger scoring chances at five-on-five were 4-0 with Henrique on the ice. Henrique led the Oilers with seven hits, and he added two blocked shots.

Shoutouts

I’m going to give a shoutout to Philip Broberg for Game 1. He and his partner, Brett Kulak, were the only two Oilers defencemen to not be on the ice for a goal against in Game 1. Broberg made the stretch pass to Janmark that led to Henrique’s breakaway. Broberg looked poised as could be with the puck in his own zone. There were no giveaways, and he used his legs to skate the puck out of trouble when he needed to use them. He skated a playoff career-high 17:55, which was third among all Oilers defencemen; and he did it while playing his off side! Broberg did not look like a fresh-faced rookie playing in his first Stanley Cup Final game.

Wrap

The Oilers got goalie’d in Game 1. Bobrovsky was solid in net for the Panthers. He’s a two-time Vezina Trophy winner and a 2024 Vezina Trophy nominee for a reason, so let’s give credit where credit is due.

I also thought that Barkov’s defending was excellent. I noticed a play in the first period where he was able to strip McDavid of a puck on a play where McDavid tried to cut back. That’s a play McDavid makes in his sleep, but Barkov was able to use his reach to strip the puck off McDavid. Barkov also showed dogged pressure on Leon Draisaitl on the Oilers powerplay. Draisaitl perhaps waited a little bit too long to attempt a backhand pass to Evan Bouchard as Barkov was pressuring him near the blue line, but Barkov ultimately caused the turnover. Barkov’s defensive intelligence and his use of his stick in the defensive zone is really impressive to watch.

I’m not panicking as an Oilers fan just yet. If the Oilers continue to play in the fashion that gave them a 32-18 edge in shots and an expected goals percentage of 62.74% in Game 2, then I like their chances.

Game 2 is on Monday night at Amerant Arena in Sunrise.

Related: Stanley Cup Final Preview: Oilers vs Panthers