The Edmonton Oilers need to draw their line in the Florida sand Thursday and refuse to take another backward step.
They either shake off their anemic 6-1 defeat in Game 3 and fight back or they can kiss the Stanley Cup goodbye.
This is it. They win Game 4 or there is a 97 per cent chance Connor McDavid and company lose the series and spend another hot summer wondering where it all went wrong.
“We have to find a way to win a game, that’s it,” said the Oilers captain. “That’s the only message. Game 4 is a really big game; you go back home 2-2 or down 3-1. It’s a big swing game.
“If you win Game 4, you’re going home with a lot of momentum. Just like them, they found a way to win Game 2 and came home with a lot of momentum. It’s a pivotal game, there’s no doubt about it.”
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Once again, the Oilers are backed to the edge of a cliff, a position from which they’ve recovered many times over the years. And all it’s going to take to regain control of the series, is winning one game.
“It’s never a good feeling,” Evander Kane said of Monday’s humiliation. “But we’ve been here before, we’ve been down in a series before. We’ve had tough losses. It stings, but we’ll flush it and get ready for Thursday.”
It’s a big flush after the Panthers just spanked the Oilers in every conceivable way, winning the first period 2-0, the second period 2-1 and the third period 2-0. The discipline and composure that are hallmarks of Edmonton’s playoff run went straight out the window as the Panthers turned them into an emotional punching bag.
It’s a good thing the Oilers have two days between games to recover because there is lots of recovering that needs to be done.
“They’re up 2-1, that’s all it is, it’s one game,” said Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner. “They could have beat us 12-0, it’s still just 2-1. It might feel a little bit harder because we weren’t in the game but it doesn’t change how we’re going to respond.
“We know what we’re going to be up against; it doesn’t change how we’re going to respond.”
Edmonton will need a new game plan for Thursdaybecause the angry, flustered mess they threw out there on Monday didn’t work. It’s up to them to prove it was just an off night and not the Panthers pulling away for good.
There is a mountain of evidence that suggests Edmonton is going to do exactly that. They are heading into the meat of the series, where they are always at their best.
In games four through seven of a playoff series over the last two years, Edmonton is 18-2. In Game 4s of a playoff series over the last three seasons, the Oilers are 9-0. In his playoff career, Skinner is 6-0 with a .955 save percentage in Game 4s.