The Edmonton Oilers will be trying to get back on track and attempt to earn a measure of revenge for their back-to-back Stanley Cup Final losses against the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., on Saturday.
These teams will clash for the first time since the Oilers were forced to watch the Panthers celebrate their second straight championship on June 17, when Florida closed out a six-game triumph.
Unfortunately for the Oilers, the clubs enter Saturday’s showdown heading in opposite directions.
The Oilers have lost three straight games and seven of their past 10 (3-5-2), and 12 games have passed since their most recent regulation win.
The Panthers are hot with a 5-2-0 record over their previous seven outings.
Edmonton’s latest defeats came in a back-to-back set against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
The visiting Oilers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in Tampa on Trent Frederic’s first-period goal, but the Lightning scored late in the third period, and Jake Guentzel buried the Oilers in overtime.
“You can see a fragile group in the third period,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “A shell of ourselves, not wanting to make a mistake and holding on, and when you hold on, you just have to defend over and over again. Unfortunately, they score that tying goal. It was too bad because it was a good effort from a lot of guys.”
Saturday’s marquee matchup marks the end of a lengthy seven-game road trip for the Oilers. Meanwhile, the Panthers will be closing out a fruitful five-game homestand.
Florida has been winning in all sorts of ways, most recently blanking the New Jersey Devils 1-0 on Thursday.
Sam Reinhart scored the game’s only goal in the first period with a highlight-reel finish to extend his point streak to five games (four goals, five assists), while Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves en route to his 51st career shutout.
“The team was great,” Bobrovsky said. “You’re not going to have a shutout without the teammates in front of you.”
Thursday’s win was the polar opposite of Florida’s hectic 8-5 home victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.
Florida’s offense has slowly heated up without star forwards Aleksander Barkov (knee) and Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), who have yet to play this season following surgeries.
The Panthers tallied three or more goals in six of their past 10 games.
Stuart Skinner will be tasked with shutting down Reinhart and the Panthers’ offense as he is expected to be back in net for the Oilers on Saturday. Skinner has been the subject of scrutiny due to his subpar .882 save percentage across 16 starts.
The Oilers are allowing an average of 3.57 goals per game, which ranked 28th in the league entering Friday, while scoring 2.96, which ranked 19th.
