Oilers must handle Panthers' forecheck, grab lead in Game 6 of Cup Final

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2024-25 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher.

In this edition, Paul MacLean, former coach of the Ottawa Senators and assistant with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs, looks back at Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers and toward Game 6 at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). The Panthers lead the best-of-7 series 3-2 and are looking to win the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive season.

It's been the same old story for the Edmonton Oilers: They are having trouble passing the puck.

Everybody is talking about it now. They are just not moving the puck out of their zone effectively.

The gap game for the Florida Panthers is tight when in on the forecheck, and in order to have a good gap you have to skate. And in order to beat the gap you have to be able to skate and Edmonton is not doing enough skating.

The Oilers are having problems with the Panthers forecheck, and it's been a combination of not skating well enough and not passing the puck well enough. The forwards can only skate so far before they have to change course. You can only get to the far blue line looking for a pass, so Edmonton must find a different way of getting to the places it needs to get to try and break that gap. You either have to take off early and then come back to the puck or the Oilers have to skate to get away from the gap, whether that's going beyond it and coming back or go toward the puck and then skate away from the puck to try and get it.

Either way, the Oilers have to skate more than they are right now to break the gap that's there for the Panthers. Edmonton, it seems, plays its best when its backs are against the wall and now has no choice but to play well. For me in Game 6, their biggest goal should be to get to the first TV timeout at 0-0 without taking a penalty. Then get to the second one at 0-0 without taking a penalty, then get to the third with the same type of thing or maybe having the lead.

Edmonton needs to get the lead.

Former coach Tommy McVie would call it Heinz 57 hockey, "Ketchup hockey is losing hockey."

He's not wrong. If you're playing catch-up, it's a harder game to play and right now that's what the Oilers are playing. Except for Game 1 when they scored first, they've been playing catch-up the whole time.

Against any team, that's a tough way to play. If you're letting them score first all the time, it doesn't matter if it's the Florida Panthers or anybody else.

For the Panthers, when you're scoring first all the time, it really gives you a lot of confidence, puts a lot of pressure on the opposition and it changes the way your opponents have to play.

As far as getting Lady Momentum back, that's how you get it. Momentum doesn't go from game-to-game, but in the next game if you score the first goal, that's how you get momentum again.

Florida was sharper in Game 5 and win or lose the face-off, they seemed to be able to get the puck and shoot it on Edmonton's net. Brad Marchand schooled the Oilers on that for two goals. All he did was be ready for the face-off and jumped, and that caught everybody sleeping.

On that first goal from the face-off at center, Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse was caught sleeping. Marchand jumped the face-off to get the puck and then he made a move to the outside and then came inside, but Nurse didn't move his feet until he was already over in the middle of the ice.

Nurse could have been over there much quicker but was way late on the play.

Marchand, it's great credit to him. He's been very motivated, and this is something that he chose to do and the place he chose to go to and he's making the most out of it. He wants to make sure that it's not his fault if things go the wrong way, so he's making a good account of himself.

I know everybody here in Nova Scotia is pretty happy with how he's playing and how he's representing our province. It's great to see.

On the other side, Corey Perry is doing the same thing. He's gone to the Final six times and has only won once, so he really trying. He doesn't need that on his record.

When it comes to the goalie who starts for the Oilers in Game 6, this is a tough decision for coach Kris Knoblauch. When Calvin Pickard comes in, he probably plays better as the backup because there is no pressure on him. I didn't think he played poorly in Game 5. There might have been a couple of goals that may have been a little suspect, but they were pretty good opportunities that Florida had as well.

I think with the state of the franchise and how it goes, I would have to say Stuart Skinner will start for Edmonton in Game 6.

That's what I would expect Knoblauch to do because Game 5 wasn't that close. If the game was 2-1 and if the Oilers had just lost out then I think you can go back with Pickard.

Now Skinner gets a couple of days rest, and he can come back. When he's done that in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he's actually been pretty good.

The Oilers need a zero, and Skinner has a chance to get that for them. They at least need a zero at the end of the first period.

I don't think Skinner has to steal the game, but he has to give them a chance to get the lead. Part of that is the goalie making a couple of saves.

In Game 5, Sergei Bobrovsky made a couple of saves and one was off the post. If those two chances go in the net, it's a different game.

I didn't think Edmonton started poorly, but they ended up getting behind 2-0. Connor McDavid had two chances in the first five minutes, and one hits the post and then ends up under the goalie. Lots of times the puck comes back and hits the goalie and goes right back into the net.

If the bounces aren't going the Oilers' way, they're not working hard enough. Bounces don't just happen. They come from diligence and perseverance and sticking with it. Keep going. That is what Edmonton has to do.