Edmonton tried to play Florida’s game but were unable to out-Panther the Panthers.
“I think the game obviously got out of hand at the end, that stuff is going to happen,” Oilers forward Evander Kane said. “You look at some of the calls that were obviously frustrating. They seem to get away with it more than we do. It’s tough to find the line, they’re doing just as much stuff as we are. It’s 4-4 (penalties) at the end of it (first) and then it gets out of hand. They seemed to be paying a little more attention to our group.”
Kane took two minor penalties in the first period -- for cross-checking and high-sticking in the offensive zone -- three in total and was assessed a 10-minute misconduct.
Edmonton was assessed 15 minors in the game and Florida went on to score three power-play goals on 11 opportunities. The Oilers were 1-for-6 with the man-advantage.
“We didn’t play very well, that’s evident, we don’t have anybody to blame but ourselves,” Kane said. “We can definitely be a lot better.”
Marchand and Carter Verhaeghe, on the power play, gave Florida a 2-0 lead in the first period. Corey Perry was able to pull one back for the Oilers on the power play at 1:40 of the second period, but Florida scored 1:20 later when Sam Reinhart made it 3-1.
“I don’t think we lost our composure until maybe the very end there, when we're trying to show a little bit of fight back,” McDavid said. “I don't mind the fight back, that’s what good teams do. I’m not thrilled with the first period, giving up eight minutes in penalties. Our power play is not able to get one, their power play gets one, and you're in a hole right away in a tough building against a really good team.”
Bennett, who has been a thorn in Edmonton’s side in all three games so far, made it 4-1 at 7:26 of the second. It was his 14th goal of the playoffs and fourth of the series.
The Oilers were unable to cut into the lead through the rest of the period then spent most of the third trying to extract their pound of flesh.
Edmonton was assessed 10 minors, a major and five 10-minute misconducts in the third.
“I think we didn’t get off to a great start with the penalties, got behind. We’ve got to clean that up,” Oilers defenseman Jake Walman said. “We've got to be more disciplined than that. We know better than that. I mean eventually, they’re going to find a way, that’s a great team.”
Aaron Ekblad scored the fifth goal for Florida on the power play at 3:27 of the third period and Evan Rodrigues added the sixth at 16:10, also with the man-advantage after things had deteriorated for Edmonton.
“The third period is an unravelling,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “The game is out of hand. I don’t think we would have acted or played like that had it been a one-goal, or two-goal game. I think our guys were just boys being boys and trying to make investment for the next game.”
The Oilers still have an opportunity to earn a split in Florida and regain home-ice advantage with Game 5 in Edmonton on Saturday.
Despite the loss, Edmonton is still in a better position than it was a year ago, when it fell behind 3-0 in the series before batting back to force Game 7, which it lost 2-1.
Kane said how Edmonton lost Game 3 was not important with two days to regroup before Game 4.
“We could have lost 3-2 in triple overtime and the series is 2-1,” Kane said. “How you lose in the playoffs really doesn’t matter as much that it might in the regular season. We have a shot to get a split here on Thursday and that’s the focus at this point.”
