This Can’t Be Happening Again

This Can’t Be Happening Again

after one of the craziest comebacks we’ve seen in game four between the Oilers and Panthers game five is the swing game that puts one of these teams on the ropes and the Florida Panthers just made a statement the rack king continues to cement his legacy while the Panthers put Edmonton on the brink for the second year in a row oilers fans can’t believe that this may be happening again but Florida is just one win away from repeating glory so what the hell happened in game five and what does it mean heading into the biggest game of the season let’s jump into it right out of the gate the Alberta Messiah Conor McDavid twoon-one no goals yet in this series shot blocked chaos around the net but no goal there were lots of close calls early on for the Oilers too couple of squeakers but Edmonton just can’t bury then we get a face off at center ice and keep an eye on the rack came Brad Marshon off the draw 37 years old but look at the timing for both centerman and wingers as soon as you see the ref’s arm move you have the green light to take off marshon is dialed in right now he sees the ref’s arm move and look at those middle-aged legs get pumping before anyone else as the puck is dropped now he’s got a step to swing through echol extends his stick but Bradley’s on another level he beats the stick with a quick inside move but here’s why even at 37 years old being 5’9 has never mattered in Marshon’s career average players when they have the step here may continue their line straight forward but Marshon cuts right through the hands of Echome to get body positioning and get in front of him now Ekhol’s on the burners marshon reads the slide from Pickard he goes far side and the rack king does it again can you believe this guy bradley Marshon i’m still looking for the employee who authorized this trade because he sets the tone again for Florida one- nothing and the same problem for Edmonton persists they don’t score the first goal the time leading in this series coming into this game was 149 minutes to Edmonton’s 33 even though they came from behind to win last game you do not want to play from behind against Florida it’s a recipe for disaster and in game five they get behind the eightball early again now after the first period of game four the Oilers did do a fantastic job of keeping a need in the neutral zone if there was layers they chipped it past the wall of Florida and got to work on the forche they stayed patient waited for stretch plays or exploitable gaps to open up and picked their spots well this eliminated some neutral zone turnovers but in game five Edmonton gets caught with their pants down and here is how Florida’s structure fundamentally changes how a team plays their game the Oilers are at their best with possession and making these skillful east west plays to get controlled zone entries here Ekhome does have Kane in the middle open initially things are moving so fast and with how Florida has notoriously gapped up in the middle Ekkome decides not to take the risk and defer to a safer option up the boards safety is just an illusion it’s a turnover the Panthers rush the other way and guess who’s all over it sam Bennett you can’t make this up 15th goal of the postseason this guy flat out just wants to get paid the Oilers look all out of sorts you got Jake Walman trying to join the Olympic diving team it’s two nothing Panthers going into the second and it’s already starting to feel like another Florida classic in the second period not a lot of chances same score going into the third and 6 minutes into the final period the rat fully turns into an animal it starts off the gun in the faceoff circle again if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying and look at Marshon’s feet before the puck is even dropped he’s fully in the circle but he takes every inch he can get plows through the circle to pressure the D to make a soft pass and as soon as he senses a turnover he bolts up ice now he’s one-on-one with Jake Wman and whoop vanishing act see you later pal but here’s the craftiness too look at the offensive stick Marshon has to tie up Wman on his way back down and buy himself some space he may be the best in the world at these offensive stick checks to clear room for himself we’ve seen him do it countless times in his career he does it here he’s in all alone and then another beautiful reminder in these playoffs to close your damn legs maron slips five hole and Pickard the rat has twinkle toes this fan has seen enough he takes off the Oilers tarp and shows his true colors and Brad Marshon may legitimately be one of the greatest trade deadline pickups of all time the Bruins traded this guy for a McChicken and a box of Timbits and he’s ended up being the best player in the cup final so far aside from the gorgeous goals his play away from the puck is just outstanding whether it’s on the forche as the high F3 or getting on top of pucks quickly as the F1 he was just in the right spot at the right time all game long what I love most is how well he extends plays for a guy of his size and age just first to pucks using a combination of craftiness and determination to win all these wall battles it’s just something else this play here is also just a small sign of the confidence he’s playing with right now carries it up the ice with possession knows he’s all alone so he puts one on net and he’s the first one to the puck on his own rebound it’s determination as much as it is skill and hockey IQ he creates his own space as a smaller player by finding these soft spots in the ozone and then leveraging his skill to make a play it’s all over the ice as well whether it’s neutral zone or DZone he was just exactly where it needed to be and when you do all these little things right you get rewarded and he gives the Panthers a three nothing lead oilers fans are thinking “This is right where we want him.” Especially because McDavid finally gets his first goal of the series 12 minutes left to go in the third here we go again don’t let the oil start leaking in the Florida machine and it’s done samson Reinhardt off the turnover just shuts down all the momentum to make it four to one the Oilers do get their schedule goal from the youngest 894 year old in Corey Perry the old-timers are just on fire in this series but it’s too little too late empty netter seals this one and the Florida Panthers put on a clinic to be just one win away from back-to back Stanley Cups now looking at this game and what to expect for game six the Oilers were hesitant to use the middle of the ice in game five the second goal was a perfect example of this how even when Edmonton had an opportunity for a quick look into the middle they continuously chose to try and go up the wall for the quote unquote safer option this is what the Panthers do to teams and it reminds me a lot of their series against the Leafs for Toronto when they had success against Florida there were plays available into the middle of the ice if Toronto dared to entertain it but more often than not they insisted on trying to beat Florida off the wall and they lost edmonton had the same mentality in game five florida’s pressure got to the Dmen and a lot of the times they were rushing and hammering or pucks around the wall to their wingers who had to handle an absolute grenade or weren’t even there to begin with it is easier said than done but with Florida owning the walls Edmonton can respond by having more options in the middle on the breakout that being said we’ve seen it before but the hard rim specifically to the backhand side of the far side Dmen killed the Oilers in this game florida constantly rimmed the puck and sent two Panthers on the far side to pressure right away as a Dman or forward trying to pick up a hard rim along the wall on your backhand with this kind of pressure breathing down your neck it’s a complete nightmare again this was a big component of the Leafs series they even showed the Leafs defenseman practicing picking up rims on their backhand to prepare for this attack toronto did get savvy by having an extra player in place to help out their D in case things went wrong that adjustment only worked for about a game or so the other big issue for Edmonton is indeed the first goal playing from behind for almost the entire series is not a winning formula at the end of game five the Panthers time leading in this series is 200 minutes to 33 as soon as you have to chase the game against Florida they can just clog that neutral zone when the game is tied or Florida is behind they play a one-tw2 but if they have a multi-goal lead they tend to back off into this 11-13 to protect the blue line it’s more passive yes but it’s the best way to defend any threats of an oddman rush which is where the Oilers are at their deadliest mcdavid did score in this game but for the most part his speed was completely neutralized if he had speed Florida made sure that there were two guys above him to be in his face if he got the puck florida’s defense did a good job with their gap containing that same speed more often than we usually see McDavid will just be put in a position where he’s flatfooted and a non-factor in this game when the Oilers did get McDavid room it was off these stretch plays where they could use the space to bump it back underneath to 97 toronto did that too by the way and they had some success but don’t get too Horny Leaf fans even though you took the Panthers further than anyone else so far you still lost in seven and Florida had an answer every time that is just a testament to how well coached the Panthers truly are they make adjustments and when teams respond they go back readjust themselves to stay ahead of the opponent finally that leads to the big question in game six which is who do the Oilers start in goal Pickard or Skinner i would be shocked personally if they didn’t go back to Stuart Skinner he’s their guy they will likely ride or die with him from this point on either way the season is officially on the line for McDavid and the Oilers to avoid a repeat of what happened last year so what do you think of game five who surprised you who pissed you off let us know in the comments down below and if you want to see more breakdowns of games 1 through 4 click on screen here and make sure you turn on notifications and subscribe so that you don’t miss our game six breakdown coming up

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We break down game 5 between the Florida Panthers & The Edmonton Oilers in the NHL Stanley Cup Final.