June 14, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Game 3 was the first Stanley Cup Finals game played at Rogers Place with fans in the building. Unfortunately for fans of the Edmonton Oilers, the Florida Panthers came into Edmonton and won Game 3 by a score of 4-3.

Sam Reinhart put the Panthers on the board late in the first period with a four-on-four goal. The Oilers tied it early in the second period, but the Panthers pulled away in the second frame. Vladimir Tarasenko, Sam Bennett, and Aleksander Barkov scored in a span of 6:19 to put the Panthers up 4-1. The Oilers fought valiantly to tie the game, but two third period tallies weren’t enough.

Call Outs

You can’t give up three goals in a 6:19 span and expect to win many games. It was mistakes by the Oilers that ultimately led to their loss in Game 3. Some of those mistakes were subtle, and others were less subtle.

Mattias Ekholm is usually amazing, but he had a tough game in Game 3. While he was in good defensive position on Reinhart on the game’s opening goal, he failed to tie up Reinhart’s stick. Instead, Ekholm’s stick was at Reinhart’s waist height. Being there and not tying up the stick is just as good as not being there at all.

Ekholm also made a mistake on the fourth Panthers goal. The Oilers had three forwards involved in a puck battle on the right wall in the offensive zone. The puck got reversed, and Ekholm drifted down the left wall. A forward got there, but it was clear that forward wasn’t going to win that race. Barkov saw that Ekholm had drifted down, and he took off up the ice as soon as his team got possession of the puck. Barkov finished off the two-on-one at the other end.

Mike Smith was in attendance for Game 3. Watching Smith in the Oilers goal was always entertaining. He was a tremendous puck handler, but every once in a while he would turn the puck over and it would turn into a goal for the other team. Stuart Skinner got to play with Smith briefly. Skinner made a similar type of puck handling gaffe in Game 3. Skinner failed to corral a routine rim around the boards. Cody Ceci, like Ekholm, was engaged with his man but did not have the stick tied up. The puck got passed out front to Tarasenko, and he made no mistake.

Darnell Nurse can legitimately be blamed for the Bennett goal. Philip Broberg reversed the puck to Nurse behind the net, and Nurse got possession. Nurse proceeded to attempt a backhand pass that was picked off and promptly fed over to Bennett, who was wide open because Nurse couldn’t get over to cover him in time.

The powerplay came away empty handed once again. It went 0/3 on the night. The Oilers have gotten a few chances on the powerplay, but the Panthers are doing a great job of defending the vaunted Oilers powerplay. 

Stand Outs

Connor McDavid got two assists for his first multi-point Stanley Cup Final game. He added five shots on goal and three hits.

Shoutouts

Warren Foegele scored the first goal by an Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place. Philip Broberg banked a shot in off a Panthers defender from the right circle. I thought Broberg played a great game at both ends of the ice. Ryan McLeod tipped a puck by Sergei Bobrovsky to get the Oilers within a goal with a little over five minutes left.

Wrap

A mistake-filled second period leaves the Oilers up against the ropes and hanging on for dear life. They now face a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final. The Stanley Cup will be in the building for Game 4 at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers take care of business in Game 2