The most surprising part about Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final
Prior to the puck dropping on Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, it’s worth looking back on what happened during an exciting first game of the series.
The Edmonton Oilers managed to ride the momentum of the home crowd, jumped ahead, giving the Florida Panthers everything they could handle. However, the defending champions roared back with three unanswered goals to take the lead. Edmonton was not deterred, rallying to score the tying goal in the third period, sending the game into overtime.
The home side was all over the Panthers in the extra frame, with Leon Draisaitl hammering home a pass from Connor McDavid to give the Oilers a 4-3 victory.
On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Steve Peters of Inside the Coach’s Room joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli to explain what he thought was the most surprising part of Game 1.
Steve Peters: I think one of the biggest surprises for me is the way the Florida Panthers handled the rush. We’ve seen through this playoffs how aggressive the Panthers are between the blue lines and their tight gaps and how aggressive they are at trying to stop plays at the red line. They were a lot more passive for the Edmonton Oilers against their rush through this game. I thought they were able to back off. When you look at their 1-1-3, they were able to get into the 1-1-3. They rarely do because they usually try to cut that play off at the red line. So, I think I was surprised at how much they were giving the Oilers a little bit of room and trying to close at their defensive blue line versus the red line. I know you feel like the Edmonton Oilers are just this rush-chance machine, but you look at the chances they had off of the rush in this game…you’re not seeing the McDavid breakaways 5-on-5. I think the Florida Panthers did a much better job in the neutral zone than I was preparing for.
On the other side, Edmonton was, I think they were very good around the blue paint defensively. And I know the goal that goes in off of the [Sam] Bennettmelee in front of the net. Other than that, you don’t see [Matthew] Tkachuk being a problem in the blue paint. You didn’t see [Carter] Verhege getting there. I think that, for the Edmonton Oilers, is their biggest surprise and or strength of this entire playoffs…their ability to defend that net front in front of the game.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…