Exactly 25 weeks after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers met again, when the 2024 finalists faced off on Monday (Dec. 16) at Rogers Place.
Vengeance was top of mind in Oil Country, where Edmonton’s 2-1 loss to the Panthers on June 24 still stings. And for a while on Monday, it looked like revenge would be had.
But when the final horn sounded at Rogers Place, the Oilers once again found themselves on the wrong side of a one-goal score. And this defeat is probably going to smart for a while too.
Edmonton blew a 4-2 lead and wound up falling 6-5 to the Panthers on Monday. Florida scored four times in a stretch of just over 15 minutes spanning the second and third periods.
Related: Panthers Defeat Oilers 6-5 in Back-and-Forth Contest
The disappointing collapse ended Edmonton’s win streak at five games, dealing the Oilers just their third loss in the last four weeks.
Zach Hyman had two goals, while Connor Brown, Leon Draisaitl and Kasperi Kapanen each tallied once for the home team. Florida got goals from Jesper Boqvist, Gustav Forsling, Niko Mikkola, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe.
Monday was not a banner night for the goalkeepers: Stuart Skinner of the Oilers stopped just 22 of 28 shots, while Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky was beaten five times on 30 shots.
There was an unfortunate sense of déjà vu in Rogers Place on Monday, but what hurt the most for the home team and its fans is the fact the Oilers beat themselves, through mistake-prone and wildly undisciplined play that served the game up on a silver platter for the Panthers. Here’s a look:
Hyman on a Heater
After scoring twice on Monday, Hyman now has seven goals in six games since being left off Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster, announced on Dec. 3. Hyman is tied for the most goals in the NHL this month.
But he should have one more, because Oilers captain Connor McDavid made an incredible pass that had Bobrovsky out of position, but Hyman failed to score what would have been the game-tying goal late in the third period.
Rough Night for Bouchard
Blueliner Evan Bouchard is another Oilers player who was passed over for a 4 Nations roster spot. On Monday, the hockey world saw exactly why Team Canada decided to go without the Oakville, Ont., product.
Bouchard is famous for having, to put it politely, poor defensive performances from time to time. It’s pretty much something the Oilers have come to accept, given the trade-off is Bouchard’s spectacular offensive skill. But Monday’s game was particularly horrific, even by his standards.
The 25-year-old was at least partially at fault for three goals against. Florida’s first and fourth goals came off Bouchard turnovers, and he left Verhaeghe unchecked in the slot to score the game-winning goal with 6.55 to play.
To his credit, Bouchard faced the music: As he spoke to media at his locker after the game, he flat-out said his play “was not acceptable tonight.”
Oilers Struggle Locking Down Leads
In the year 2024, five goals should be enough to win an NHL contest, even against the defending Stanley Cup champions. In fact, this was the first time this season that a Western Conference team has scored five or more goals at home and failed to get at least one point.
The Oilers were outscored 4-1 over the game’s final 22:05. This comes only two days after they were outscored 3-1 over the final 24:25 by the Vegas Golden Knights at Rogers Place on Saturday (Dec. 14).
In the case of the latter, the Oilers had built up an insurmountable 5-0 lead that was just a bit too much for Vegas to overcome. But a two-goal lead against the Panthers with more than a period to play is far from safe, as Edmonton learned the hard way.
Over these last two contests, the Oilers have a plus-seven goal differential over the first 35 minutes of the game, and a minus-five goal differential over the final 25 minutes of the game. This echoes a troubling trend earlier in the season, when they were giving up a ton of third-period goals. Meanwhile, over their five-game win streak, they had a plus-six goal differential in the third period.
The Prime Curse Is Now a Thing
This season marked the launch of Prime Monday Night Hockey, exclusively streaming all national regular season Monday night NHL games in English in Canada.
This did not go over well in Oil Country, where fans have previously been able to watch every Oilers tilt on Sportsnet, but now have to subscribe to Prime Video to view all 82 games. Monday marked the third time the Oilers have been featured on Prime Monday Night Hockey, and if the show wasn’t already unpopular enough among Edmonton fans, it’s reached new levels of contempt, as the Oilers are 0-3 when playing on Prime.
Fortunately for the Oilers, they only play once more on Prime this season, and it won’t be until April 14, at home against the Los Angeles Kings.
Unfortunately for the Oilers, they only get one crack at the Panthers this season, and have to wait until Feb. 27, when they visit Florida. In the meantime, they will look to get back on track when they are next in action, hosting the Boston Bruins on Thursday (Dec. 19).
