SUNRISE, Fla. — The Edmonton Oilers came out of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final feeling pretty good.
They were shut out, 3-0, but a stellar performance from Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky neutralized their offensive power.
The Oilers weren’t shut out on Monday night, but the result was the same: another loss, and the series shifts to Canada, with Edmonton down 0-2.
Edmonton, one of the NHL’s best scoring teams, managed just one goal in the first two games of the finals.
The Panthers outshot the Oilers 22-7 through the first two periods on Monday.
Edmonton’s seven shots on goal through 40 minutes were the fewest by a team through two periods of a Stanley Cup Final since the Carolina Hurricanes attempted that many shots against the Oilers in Game 6 of the 2006 championship series.
This comes one game after Edmonton beat the Panthers 32-18 in Game 1 in what star player Connor McDavid described as a confidence boost.
McDavid, who didn’t score in Game 1, assisted Mattias Ekholm for Edmonton’s only goal of the night, which was the Oilers’ first shot of the game on 4-on-4 shooting.
McDavid is the leading scorer in the postseason with 32 points, including 17 points in games following a loss this postseason.
But Edmonton’s other star, 2020 league MVP Leon Draisaitl, has yet to score a point in the series and hasn’t played a big role.
Draisaitl was penalized for rough play in the third period for shoving Florida captain Aleksander Barkov.
Meanwhile, goaltender Stuart Skinner made 24 saves on Monday night, following up his 15 saves in the season opener.
The Panthers’ experience in the finals just a year ago clearly frustrated the Oilers, and Florida found ways to limit their specialty. Edmonton entered the series with a postseason-best power-play percentage of 37.3 per cent, but is now down all seven games.
