Three takeaways: Another poor start, power play troubles doom Panthers in Game 6
Florida has gone just 1-for-19 on the power play during the Stanley Cup Final
It’s gut check time for the Florida Panthers.
Really, it’s been at that level for the past week, but the Edmonton Oilers took things to the highest level after winning Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final 5-1 on Friday night at Rogers Place.
Now the Panthers have lost three straight games after taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the championship series.
One more defeat and they’ll be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Of course, they can still win a Game 7 on home ice, and then everything will be okay.
But that sure feels like a far stretch considering how the past three games have gone for Florida.
Let’s get to the Game 6 takeaways.
Need to start better
Florida has been outscored 5-1 during the first period of the past three games.
They haven’t held a lead since the end of Game 3.
While there are several things the Panthers will want to fix as they head into Game 7, getting off to a strong start has to be at the top of the list.
“I didn't feel we struggled in the first period last game, we gave up a shorthand goal and I liked our first period an awful lot,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said after Game 6. “They were good in the first period. They were quick and they were on us. We didn't move the puck well enough to pull that off.”
Power play struggling
After failing to score on any of their three power play opportunities on Friday, Florida is now a paltry 1-for-19 with the man advantage in the Stanley Cup Final.
Credit to Edmonton, which has been historically good on the penalty kill to this point during the playoffs.
The Oilers are now 64-for-68 on the PK during the postseason.
Still, the Panthers can’t and won’t use that as an excuse. Not with one game left in the season.
“I think we're lacking a little bit of offensive speed,” Maurice said. “And that would be true of our five-on-five game (too), we're getting jammed into corners. So we'll look at places that we can generate speed or keep our speed.”
The turning point
After falling behind 2-0 on a goal in the opening minute of the second period, the Panthers appeared to get right back into the swing of things moments later.
Sasha Barkov finished off a nice pass from Carter Verhaeghe to get the Cats on the board on the very next shift after Edmonton scored.
Or so we thought.
A long offside review after the Oilers challenged the play led to Barkov’s goal being wiped off the board, much to the chagrin of Maurice, who was livid on the bench.
Apparently, the NHL had a camera angle that the Panthers did not have access to, and that’s the one that showed the play was offside.
It was a huge turning point in the game, as Florida went from scoring their first goal and potentially getting a power play to finding themselves back in a 0-2 hole with an extra shot of frustration to take up the tailpipe.
“It may well have been offside, the linesperson informed me that it was the last clip that they got where they made the decision that it shows it's offside," said Maurice. "I don't have those. So I was upset after the call based on what I see at my feet and what my video person looks at. There was no way I would have challenged that if it was reversed. There was no way I thought you can conclusively say that was offside. I don't know what the Oilers get. I don't know what the league gets. I just know that when I would have had to have challenged that based on what I saw, I would not have challenged. I'm not saying its not offside. We’ll get still frames, we’ll bring in the CIA, we'll figure it out. But in the 30 seconds that I would have made that call, I would not have challenged.”
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