Game Four: Florida Panthers at Edmonton Oilers (Florida leads series 3-0)
Time: 8:00 PM EST
Location: Rogers Place
How to Watch: ABC, ESPN+, SN, CBC, TVAS
The site to follow: Litter Box Cats (Panthers) Oilers Nation (Oilers)
Favorite per Hard Rock Live – Edmonton Oilers -115 (Panthers a surprising -105)
Alright, well, here we go. We’re officially on season-over watch. The Florida Panthers have the chance to end things tonight with a sweep, something that hasn’t happened since 1998 when the Detroit Red Wings swept the Washington Capitals. Even if the Oilers do win one to save a little face thereby prolonging the series, it just feels like the Panthers are inevitable. They are going to raise the Stanley Cup at some point in the next few days with the only thing left to be determined is the location.
Oddly enough, when they do raise the Cup it will be in a state/province that the Lightning have done the same thing. If the Panthers win tonight, they will lift the Cup in the same building the Lightning did in 2020. If they wait until the next game, it’ll be in the same tax-free state of Florida that the Lightning raised it to the rafters in 2021. Three years? Has it already been three years since then?
When the numbers are crunched on this series, it’ll seem a lot more even than whatever the win-loss record ends up being. Edmonton hasn’t played that bad, they just, with the exception of the last five minutes of Game 3, haven’t been able to finish off plays. Meanwhile, Florida has steadily improved their offensive play as the series has continued and scored when they’ve had their chances.
It is fun to see articles around the web trying to justify some other players for the Conn Smythe Trophy. Look, it’s simple, this is Officer Bob’s trophy to lose at this point. Unless he completely regresses over the next four games and becomes a human sieve, Sergei Bobrovsky is going to join Andrei Vasilevskiy as the only Russian goalies to win the playoff MVP award. He’s currently rocking a 12.84 GSAx, second only to Igor Shesterkin’s 15.46 in the postseason.
His 2.07 GA is the best of any goaltender that made it out of the first round and while his .916 SV% trails just Jeremy Swayman and Shesterkin. More importantly, he’s made the saves when he’s needed to. Even after Edmonton had gotten a couple passed him and were making things somewhat interesting, he found a way to keep his left pad on the ice denying Ryan McLeod glory.
It’s not all been Stu Skinner’s fault at the other end. He’s been…fine. He just hasn’t been able to make the key save when Edmonton needs him to. With as close as things have been, that’s been a huge factor in Florida winning the first three games of the series. If the Oilers are going to pull off the miracle come back, and they become the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to come pull off a reverse sweep after being down 3-0, they need him to steal a game or two.
He’ll need a little help from Connor McDavid as well. The perennial Hart Trophy candidate is leading his team in scoring with three points. All assists. No other player on the roster currently has more than one point, which seems not great after three games. However much McDavid needs some support from his teammates, he needs to be the one out in front leading them. It’s the biggest stage of his career and he can’t afford to just be good, he needs to step it up. That’s what Nikita Kucherov did for the Lightning and Nathan MacKinnon did for the Avalanche.
It’s now or next year for McDavid and the Oilers. If they don’t want to suffer the indignation of watching another team, a Sunbelt team at that, raise the Cup on their ice, then they have to have the best game of the season. It’s that simple.
