Mathew Tkachuk had his number made when he walked into Rogers Place ahead of the Stanley Cup final, and it would have been considered a personal failure by the Edmonton Oilers had he left unscathed.
And Sam Bennet.
And Brad Marchand.
We think.
It’s hard to say for sure. On the one hand, Bennet rammed his way on top of Stuart Skinner, Tkachuk made every dirty play he could when the play ended, and on the other hand, well, I guess that’s it.
It starts with plays like kicking Mattias Ekholm’s stick while on the man-advantage and ends with a 5-4 double overtime victory.
Funny how that works out.
Almost like once the Oilers falls into the trap of retalitory penalties — cough, cough Evan Bouchard — the Florida Panthers no longer need to draw fights, make dirty plays, or run their mouth to get momentum, they already have it.
And instead of playing a hard-nose, heavy-pressure, strong-hit game like the Oilers did on Wednesday night to make Zach Hyman proud, they go from 51 to 39 hits, two stick penalties and a delay of game to four retaliatory penalties, and ironically, one goal short.
Maybe that’s just how it rolls with the Panthers.
There’s a fine line between beating them at their own game and getting sucked into the trap until it no longers matters that the penalties stop flowing, it takes too long to a recover against a team that plays well in their own right.
“Hey, I keep saying they’re a good team,” agreed Corey Perry begrudgingly post-game. “They’re gonna push and push us to the max.
“That’s hockey. One mistake, and it gets magnified. And it did tonight.”
Was it just one mistake, though?
It seems like it was four unnecessary mistakes followed by a Brad Marchand shorthanded goal and a Brad Marchand overtime winner.
If only the biggest rat in the NHL had nothing to feed his momentum from the first 40 seconds onward.
“It’s obviously a very important game for our team, and we all knew we were one shot away, and luckily, it went our way,” explained Marchand. “But you could tell the excitement that our group had.”
Sidenote: you could tell the excitement that Marchand’s mom had, so much so Marchand was asked (the younger one) how much that support must have meant to him in the moment.
His answer?
“She is one that you need to put a muzzle on,” Marchand said jockingly and lovingly, we think.
OK, back to hockey.
The way the Panthers forced the Oilers down an emotion-ridden road should not come as a surprise.
To the fans, or to the Oilers.
Florida’s game has always aired on the side of questionable, and if one were to need proof, then they needn’t look further than Bennet’s run into Anthony Stolarz in round two, his good-goal while hugging Stuart Skinner in game one, and now, his goaltender interference call in game two.
“I was pushed, and then I think the goalie kicked out of my heel, which made me fall,” explained Bennet on the call. “So, yeah, I didn’t agree with that one.”
It would be surprising if he did.
Almost as surprising as a Marchand shorthanded goal that didn’t tie the game, but gave the Panthers a lead.
It was in that moment that the Oilers should have hung their head in shame and vowed to never repeat such a performance, especially when hanging onto a 1-0 series lead 24 hours prior.
The only thing more surpsing might have been 2-0 series lead against the Panthers.
And that’s the other way to look at this game.
Yes, the Oilers got stuck in a rat race, and yes, they were owned by the Pathers for a good portion of the game. But they’ll head to Florida with a tied series, which is a lot more than they could say heading into game three last year.
It’s progress, people.
“Obviously, when you win the first one, you’re disappointed you don’t follow up and win the second one, but we’re going there with a split and that’s fine with us,” agreed Kris Knoblauch. “We’re comfortable playing on the road. We’ve won a lot of games in the regular season of playoffs.
“So we’ll get ready for game three.”
At which point, the Oilers will deal with Tkachuk, Bennet, Marchand, and the rest of them, early and strong, or not at all.
