How the Oilers dragged the Stanley Cup Final back to Alberta with a Game 5 win: 5 takeaways

SUNRISE, Fla. – Since avoiding a sweep with a beatdown of the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, the Edmonton Oilers’ mantra has been “to drag them back to Alberta.”

Well, they’re now doing the same thing to the Stanley Cup. Too bad hockey’s most cherished trophy can’t get Aeroplan miles.

For the second consecutive game, the Stanley Cup didn’t get into public view Tuesday. It will instead be in the belly of the NHL’s Air Canada charter Wednesday for another 2,550-mile flight to Edmonton after the Oilers officially shifted the momentum of this best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final with a 5-3 Game 5 victory at Amerant Bank Arena.

With Game 6 on Friday night, the outside noise will be ear-splitting as the pressure ratchets up for the Panthers.

Connor Brown, who went the first 55 games this season without a goal and fresh off setting up Mattias Janmark’s game-opening short-handed goal in Game 4, halted the Panthers’ early pressure Tuesday night by scoring a short-handed goal just 5½ minutes in.

Then Edmonton’s Connor McDavid went to work, posting another four-point game with two goals and two assists to build 3-0 and 4-1 leads.

At one point, the Oilers scored nine consecutive goals in the series (something the 1980s Oilers never accomplished), and they had a 13-1 scoring run before Matthew Tkachuk scored for Florida in the second period.

Evan Rodrigues scored his fourth goal of the series for Florida, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson pulled the Panthers within one early in the third period for a frantic finish. But Stuart Skinner held the fort as Edmonton took the series back to Alberta’s capital.

“I know a lot of guys counted us out,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We’ve been counted out a lot through the playoffs, regular season, whatever. But it doesn’t faze the group in there. They’ve got a lot of belief – a lot of belief and just enjoying every extra day, because we were counted out a long time ago and we’re still here playing hockey in June and have the opportunity where we are going back to Edmonton for Game 6. There’s a lot to smile about.”

“We’ve got to win one game,” Rodrigues said on the other side. “Simple as that. Go out there. Got to win one game. That’s our mindset, and that’s what we’re going to go do.”

Here are five takeaways:

Oh captain, my captain

McDavid led the way in Game 4, recording a goal and three assists in a massive 8-1 win for the Oilers. He was even better in Game 5, flying all over the ice. It seemed like the Panthers were in danger every time he had the puck on his stick.

After a secondary assist on Zach Hyman’s power-play goal in the second period, McDavid simply took over.

First, he found the smallest of openings short side on Sergei Bobrovsky for his seventh goal of the playoffs, a cheeky attempt he isn’t afraid to try. Then, at the end of an Oilers man advantage, he walked through the Panthers defense and around Niko Mikkola to set up Corey Perry for a chip-in. He added an empty-netter.

McDavid is up to 42 points in the postseason, fourth most of all time.

Oh, and he’s come through when it’s mattered most. With eight points in the past two games, McDavid has established a Stanley Cup Final record for production when facing elimination.

“Connor doing Connor things,” Hyman said. “That’s what makes him special. He’s able to elevate his game at the most important time – the biggest reason why we’ve come so far. We’re not here without him. He continues to drive the bus.”

“That’s just the type of player he is,” Perry said. “He puts this team on his back. When we’re against the wall, he puts us on his back and he plays. You see why he is the best player.”

Bobrovsky looks human

After allowing one goal in his first two games of the series, Bobrovsky has allowed 12 in his past three games, which included an early exit in Game 3 after giving up five goals on 16 shots.

Before these past two games, there was debate over whether Bobrovsky had overtaken Aleksander Barkov in the Conn Smythe race. Frankly, we’re getting to the point where we start to ask if McDavid’s overtaken them both even if Florida goes on to win the Stanley Cup.

Either way, Bobrovsky is starting to show signs of cracking as the Oilers come at him in waves. The most glaring softie he allowed Tuesday was McDavid’s bankshot through him from an odd angle for Edmonton’s third goal.

More short-handed Oilers offense

Another game, another offensive contribution from Brown on the penalty kill.

Brown found PK partner Janmark in the crease for an easy goal to open the scoring in Game 2. He broke the ice Tuesday, as well, with an even more impressive effort.

Brandon Montour tried to connect with Barkov along the blue line, but Brown anticipated the play and got his stick on the puck to deflect it to the neutral zone. From there, Brown beat Barkov to the loose puck and went in on a breakaway. He made no mistake, deking to his backhand and beating Bobrovsky 5:30 into the game.

With the goal, Brown became the third player in NHL history to record a short-handed point in consecutive Cup Final games. The others are Hockey Hall of Famers Serge Savard (1968) and Bobby Orr (1970). Nice company.

“He’s been unbelievable, even more so in this Cup Final,” Hyman said of Brown, who had only 12 points in the regular season. “I think a lot of people lost faith in him, but he’s an unbelievable player. I played with him for a long time, so I knew how good he can be. He’s showing it every night at the highest stage. He’s one of best players. Credit to him.”

The Oilers became the first team in NHL history to open the scoring with a short-handed goal in consecutive Final games. It marked the sixth instance in league history in which a team had a short-handed goal in two straight Final contests.

Tkachuk finally shows sign of life

It has been a quiet postseason for Tkachuk, but after more and more questions the past few days about what’s going on with him following his monstrous postseason last year, he scored his first goal since May 22 and second in the past 16 games in the second period.

Tkachuk also played his most physical game of the series and did a solid job penetrating the middle and getting to the goalmouth in the final two periods. In the third period, his strong play behind the net set up Ekman-Larsson’s goal to cut the deficit to 4-3.

Tkachuk may not be healthy. He has taken a lot of the off-day practices off since the second round against Boston.

Earlier Tuesday, Tkachuk was asked about his game and said, “I’m looking forward to hopefully my best game of the series tonight. I thought last game was nowhere near good enough and I’m way better than that. Maybe the last four periods going back to the third period of Game 3 could be a lot better. So, I don’t know. Good part about us is it’s not about one guy. It’s not about individuals here. We have a chance to capture the biggest goal of our lives tonight, so we’re going to go do that.”

Oilers power play crushes Panthers

The two power-play goals the Oilers netted – their first two 5-on-4 tallies of the series – sure were timely.

Hyman’s goal came 1:58 into the middle period, with 2 seconds remaining in the Oilers’ second power play courtesy of a Mikkola interference call on Warren Foegele at the end of the first. Perry then gave the Oilers a three-goal lead by finishing off McDavid’s pass with eight ticks left on Kyle Okposo’s hooking infraction on Mattias Ekholm.

The Panthers almost got out of their penalty issues unscathed. Instead, the Oilers’ ability to make them pay late in those man advantages helped turn the tide.