Oilers can seize momentum against Panthers in Game 5 of Stanley 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 at the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers following Game 4 of the best-of-7 series, which is tied 2-2. Edmonton won Game 4, 5-4 in overtime, battling back from a 3-0 deficit in the first period. Game 5 is at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

I thought the Edmonton Oilers started Game 4 pretty well, but once they took that first penalty they got in trouble. Then they took another penalty and fell behind.

The Oilers came out in the second period and actually just focused on playing, and they somehow found a way to make a pass and break the Florida Panthers’ forecheck.

Florida started to play a little bit more in its end and had to worry about getting people on and off the ice with the long change, and its forecheck wasn’t as suffocating.

I thought Edmonton’s attitude was a big part of the second period after the debacle that was the first period. They were playing the game, finding outlets, being available for one another and making plays.

They opened up the ice by playing in the other team’s end.

Goalie Stuart Skinner was a star in the first period, so you can’t fault him, but you had to pull him because it’s 3-0 and Calvin Pickard is a bit of an icon in the Edmonton locker room, I would think, with him being a veteran guy and what he’s done for them.

Pickard went in there with nothing to lose and he went in there and stopped some pucks. It was a totally different move than Pete DeBoer with the Dallas Stars, when he pulled Jake Oettinger (in a series-ending 6-3 loss to the Oilers in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final).

I think it was obviously the right thing to do, the right things were said in the room and the message was that if they wanted to keep playing, they better start playing.

In the second period, Edmonton wasn’t worried about the Florida’s game, it was finding an outlet, and holding on to possession of the puck.

I thought Oilers defenseman Troy Stecher, even though he didn’t play a lot after the first period, really helped their game in the first period. He really held on to pucks and made plays and made outlet passes and put the puck on the forward’s stick coming out of the zone.

Edmonton finally got connected with the defensemen and forwards in the second period and was getting people the puck ahead of them; bumping it back and getting the forwards the puck with some speed and getting center Connor McDavid the puck with speed.

The Oilers found their game, but the reason is because they got to play in the Panthers' end a little bit and force Florida, in the second period with a tough change, to get the right people on ice, making it difficult for the defending champs.

Florida is just like everybody else: If you make the Panthers play in their end of the rink a lot of the time, they’re not going to be able to establish that game they like to establish.

I thought the way Edmonton passed the puck in the second and third period made a big difference in the end.

The teams are real close right now, but I still think that if the Oilers get to their game in Game 5 and establish it in each period as the series goes on, they’re going to be hard to beat.

The fatigue factor is starting to settle in, especially with this travel right now, with the game in Edmonton on Saturday, that’s a long way to go from Florida.

The Panthers have been doing it for three years, and as much as they talk about the fitness of their players, it’s going to take a toll at some point in time, and the Oilers have some younger guys and younger legs.

They’re the home team and they have to hold serve now, they have the home ice back and so the pressure is going to be there at home, where the fans are going to be rabid.

I think Edmonton has to go back with Pickard the way he’s played and the way the team rallies around him, and I don’t think Stu would have any problem with it, either.

Pickard has been a solid guy for them in the playoffs and he did a great job for them and my expectation is he will start Saturday.

The hard thing for me if you’re Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch is what you do with forward Evander Kane and defenseman Darnell Nurse, who can’t take penalties like they did in the first period of Game 4.

They can be important and you can see with the body checks Kane throws, the impact he has that way, but you can’t be taking penalties in the first period of games.

Those are things that have to be addressed before Game 5.

If you’re Panthers coach Paul Maurice, you just have to tell your team that "You’ve been here before" and "You’re the champions and they have to beat us."

They’ve been here before and he knows his team might be in a tough spot, but they’ve responded before and have the goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky, who’s been really good for them, obviously. He’s confident in his group, but at the same time, he wants to make sure they’re ready, so they’re going to have to get a lot of rest with the plane trip Friday.

Right now, you can say the momentum is with Edmonton going home, but you have to establish it game-to-game in order to keep it. It doesn’t really carry over unless you establish it again.

One thing it does do is give Edmonton confidence it can beat the forecheck. The big thing against Florida is if you can do that and not be stuck in your own end for long periods of time.

That’s where they get you, they beat you down and they batter you. If you can make the zone exits, the Panthers can be vulnerable and that’s what the Oilers have to work on.