Edmonton Oilers' quest for Cup falls short again, what happens now?
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Florida's fourth-liner Jonah Gadjovich now has two Stanley Cup rings.
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The best player in hockey, Connor McDavid, still has none. Same with superstar teammate Leon Draisaitl, by every measure, one of the top half dozen players in the world.
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We know the vagaries of this two-month tournament but how can this be? How did Edmonton become The City of Slumped Shoulders and Florida become the State of Hockey, first with the Tampa Bay Lightning, now with the Panthers? Four Cups.
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The way the Panthers went about their work in this series, scoring early and often and making the Oilers chase, seemed on a continuing loop. They were way better in this Final, even if it went six and could be back again next spring because the Maple Leafs who gave Florida their biggest playoff scare, are losing Mitch Marner. Tampa is getting old, Carolina can't get past the third round, no matter what and Washington can't score enough.
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The Oilers? They rolled over Vegas and Dallas but were basically infield practice for Florida after the first two games that went to overtime.
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'A well-oiled machine and I'm talking Florida,' said Wayne Gretzky, one of TNT's between periods commentators.
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Pun intended.
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The Oilers only led for 34 minutes in the Final and never won a game in regulation, just two in OT. Truth is, last year's Oilers team gave the Panthers more fits, winning three in a row to get it to Game 7. This year's Oilers, in total win-now mode, were outscored 10-0 in the first period over the last four games, Sergei Bobrovsky, who was not good before Paul Maurice came in and put a defensive structure in place, was better than Stuart Skinner in net.
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Sam Reinhart, who'll be playing with McDavid in the 2026 Olympics, had seven goals in Stanley Cup Final (four in Game 6), Brad Marchand had six and Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett five for Florida. McDavid, as industrious as he was, had just one and Draisaitl, who didn't have a shot on goal in Game 6, had the OT winners.
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