4 Takeaways From Oilers’ 5-1 Loss in Game 6 of Stanley Cup Final

So what did the Oilers do in the first period on Tuesday? They gave up an early goal to Reinhart at 4:36, a late goal to Tkachuk at 19:13, and once again went into the first intermission facing a multi-goal deficit, 2-0. The game was effectively over then.

For the entirety of the series, the Panthers wound up outscoring Edmonton 13-4 in the first period. The goal differential in the first 20 minutes was 9-0 in favour of Florida over the final four games.

Slow starts are nothing new for the Oilers. In fact, it’s kind of been their thing: Edmonton had eight comeback wins in the 2025 postseason, including four rallies from a multi-goal deficit. But the Oilers’ reliance on being able to come from behind finally caught up with them in the Stanley Cup Final against a superior squad.

Power Play Outage

Edmonton’s had a very complicated relationship with special teams this postseason. The Oilers’ penalty kill was a disaster, allowing 23 goals on 70 opportunities, but their power play was very effective, going 16 for 63 with some hugely timely goals.

So as they tried frantically to get back in the game on Tuesday, the Oilers certainly could have used an opportunity or two with the man-advantage. That was not going to happen with this officiating crew, however, who apparently swallowed their whistles during the pre-game meal.

Only three penalties were called during Game 6: coincidental minors for Edmonton’s Evander Kane and Florida’s Sam Bennett midway through the opening period, and a misconduct for Kane with just over two minutes remaining in the third period. This marked the first time in Stanley Cup Playoff history that there was not a single power-play opportunity for either team.

Not to say that Game 6 was a back-alley brawl, but it wasn’t a game of flag football either. There were infractions that could have been called — such as Florida’s Seth Jones tripping Connor McDavid as the Oilers captain broke in on Bobrovsky with Edmonton desperately needing a goal, trailing 3-0 just over eight minutes into the third period – the zebras just chose not to blow the whistle.

There has long been frustration with how referees are calling NHL games, but maybe never to the level that it is now. As far as officiating goes, Game 6 was the perfect coda to the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Not a Good Pull

With exactly seven minutes remaining in the third period and his team down 3-0, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch elected to pull Skinner in favour of the extra attacker.

Knoblauch has been known to pull his goalie with more than a couple minutes remaining, following a growing trend in hockey, and it’s proven very successful: Edmonton scored five goals with the extra attacker in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the most by any team in a single postseason since 2009-10.

Seven minutes, however, might have been a bit too early. It took just 26 seconds for Reinhart to fire the puck into the yawning cage, putting Florida ahead 4-0 with the earliest empty net goal in Stanley Cup Final history.

Reinhart made it 5-0 in favour of the home team when he scored into the open net again at 14:55, becoming the first player in Stanley Cup Final history with two empty-net goals in one game.

Ironically, it wasn’t until Skinner returned to his net that Vasily Podkolzin spoiled Bobrovsky’s shutout, pouncing on a loose puck in front of the net to score at 15:18.

Superstars Shut Down

Edmonton’s all-world duo of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were shockingly ineffective as the Stanley Cup Final wore on, particularly in Game 6 with the season on the line.

McDavid had just two points in the final four games, and was kept off the scoresheet Tuesday. When McDavid’s team needed him to save the day, the greatest player on the planet simply couldn’t break free from the straitjacket that the defending Panthers had locked him in.

It was a jarring sight for Oilers fans that have watched McDavid skate circles around opponents for the last decade. Never before in his magnificent career has the NHL’s version of Superman been made to look so mortal.

Draisaitl was also held pointless in Game 6. The German centre came up huge earlier in the series, scoring the overtime goal in each of Edmonton’s two victories. But Tuesday marked the second time in the last four games that he didn’t register a single shot attempt, which is almost inconceivable for the four-time 50-goal scorer.

How Draisaitl and McDavid were rendered non-factors is one of the many questions the Oilers will be left to ponder in the wake of Tuesday’s loss. With the 2025 NHL Draft just over a week away, and free agency set to open on July 1, there will be little time for convalescence before shifting focus to assembling a roster that can finally capture the Cup in 2026.