Despite Game 1 loss, Oilers look to stay the course vs. Panthers

SUNRISE — Glancing over the stat sheet, one might think the Edmonton Oilers had a dominant performance against the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Edmonton outshot Florida 32-17, had 13 high-danger chances to the Panthers’ six and finished the game with 2.67 expected goals. The game played on the ice told a different story.

Florida toppled Edmonton 3-0 to take a 1-0 series lead thanks to an elite performance from Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Despite Florida admittedly not playing its best game, the Panthers find themselves with a series lead in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history. The Oilers are forced to regroup for a Florida team they expect to play even better in Game 2 Monday night.

“We anticipate [Florida] to be much better in the next one,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said after Saturday’s loss at Amerant Bank arena. “There’s a lot of things I liked about our game, but we know that we’re gonna have to get even better.”

Despite having plenty of scoring opportunities Saturday, Knoblauch said he can still guide his team to better take advantage of weaknesses in Florida’s system.

“There’s definitely things we can target,” he said. “Every goalie has strengths and weaknesses. Every system that you play has strengths and weaknesses.”

Knoblauch added there is an element of luck when it comes to converting chances in front of the net.

“Sometimes pucks go in … it doesn’t always work out that way,” he said. “There are things we’re gonna have to look at and try and increase those chances.”

Oilers star center Connor McDavid shared similar thoughts to his coach’s. He led the team with six shots on goal Saturday. With .809 expected goals, he ranked fourth on Edmonton behind Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl. McDavid said he felt his team had good looks around the net but got unlucky at times.

“Not a ton of puck luck around their net, some weird plays in there,” he said. “But they’re a good team. Give them credit, they did enough to win.”

Despite the result, which McDavid called disappointing, he said Saturday’s performance showed the Oilers can hang with Florida in a series where Edmonton entered as +112 underdogs.

“Tonight we deserved at least one goal or maybe two goals, and we didn’t find a way to get them,” he said.

Hyman said his team got the blueprint for the rest of the series in Game 1.

“I think if we play like that we’re gonna be fine,” he said.

He added that converting good chances isn’t something you can coach up, and that Edmonton just needs to continue applying pressure.

“I’ve had a lot of chances in my career,” Hyman said. “You just continue to get them, and eventually they’re gonna go in. And when they go in, they go in bunches.”

Both teams have a long road ahead in this series with a second game at Amerant Bank arena Monday before heading up to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4. Even though the Oilers trail to start the Cup final, they feel confident in continuing to play their brand of hockey.

“Hockey is a funny game, the key is to not get frustrated,” Hyman said. “You just continue to play, you play your game. That’s why it’s a seven-game series.”

Florida Panthers take Game 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final | PHOTOS