Oilers come out flat again, pushed to brink with Game 5 loss in Stanley Cup Final

EDMONTON -- On a night the Edmonton Oilers had an opportunity to pull within a win of the Stanley Cup, they could not connect well enough to fend off the Florida Panthers.

The Oilers were slightly off, struggling to string together passes, losing races to the puck, and getting out-battled in a 5-2 loss at Rogers Place on Saturday, to fall behind 3-2 in the best-of-7 series.

Game 6 is at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“There is a connection you feel as a group and I think we’ve had it for moments over the course of this series, but it wasn’t there tonight,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “Playing with five [as a unit], being tight and working our way out of our zone and being in their zone, I thought in the second period there was a good amount of that but not enough to win the game.”

Edmonton fell behind 2-0 in the first period and was forced to chase the game, which has been the theme so far in the Final.

Unlike Game 4 when the Oilers battled back from a three-goal deficit with three goals in the second period in a 5-4 overtime win, they struggled to find urgency and consistency in Game 5.

“There’s times in the game where we definitely did, but not enough in long enough stretches,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “I think early we were playing a desperate game and an urgent game, but they found a way to get the first one and then the second one. We’re a team that can find a way to come back, but it’s not always going to happen.”

The Oilers admitted they were not sharp enough Saturday.

They were unable to keep the puck for long stretches, maintain offensive zone pressure, or generate enough chances to trouble Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Edmonton had 21 shots.

“I think we were struggling to get to our game right away,” Oilers defenseman Jake Walman said. “It takes us a little bit, I don’t know what the reasoning is. We have it in us to play the way that we want and it’s just taking a little longer to start out.”

Lack of execution went on to cost Edmonton and coach Kris Knoblauch said Florida played its part in that.

“We should take some credit and give it to them,” Knoblauch said. “The simple pass, tape-to-tape, it’s one thing if there is a defender in the way and you have to make a difficult pass through skates or over a stick or something like that. I think it was probably a little bit of both.”

It wasn’t until captain Connor McDavid scored to cut the deficit to 3-1 at 7:24 of the third period that Edmonton looked connected.

McDavid converted on one of the few passing plays on the night and gave the Oilers hope they could mount another comeback.

The hope lasted 46 seconds before Sam Reinhart restored Florida’s three-goal lead at 4-1.

Corey Perry scored on a screened shot from just inside the blue line to make it 4-2 at 16:47, but Eetu Luostarinen scored into an empty net with goalie Calvin Pickard pulled for an extra attacker at 18:41 to seal the win.

“I think we’ve come out flat now most of the series, so that’s something I think is a mindset,” Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “I think we have to make sure we get pucks in and try to put pressure on them. They’re obviously a good team for a reason and they’ve come out and showed that early in the games and we have to find a way to be better than that at the start.”

Edmonton was outshot 8-3 in the first period and was better in the second, but still not as sharp as it’s been throughout the playoffs that set up this rematch in the Final against Florida.

The Oilers had two power plays in the second and although they were able to maintain longer offensive zone time than the man-advantage in the first, could not cut into the deficit.

“We just have to play our game earlier,” Nurse said. “I think it comes to simplifying, putting our head down and working, just play our game and not worry about anything else. They [Florida] have a job to make it hard for us to get to our game, but I think we all agree in our room that we can be better.”

In order to drag the series back to Edmonton, the Oilers have to be better in Game 6.

Unlike last season when the Oilers fell behind 3-0 in the series and won three straight to force a winner-take-all game, Edmonton has home-ice advantage in Game 7, on Friday if necessary.

“You talk about backs against the wall and this is the ultimate,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We’ll be prepared to play and make sure that we’re ready to go.”