Oilers' Cup Aspirations Still Very Alive

It was a masterful performance from McDavid, who looked destined to will his team to a Game 1 victory until Phillip Danault scored a fluky goal with under a minute left for a Game 1 Kings win. The Oilers would follow that up with a 6-2 Game 2 loss, leaving many doubting if they would make a deep playoff run this year.

The Oilers responded with four straight wins against the Kings, going 12-2 the rest of the way to the Cup Final. There were other rough moments along the way, such as Leon Draisaitl's own goal in overtime of Game 3 against the Vegas Golden Knights, which could've given them a chance to creep back in the series. 

Edmonton won the next two games to advance to the Western Conference Final, where they would lose Zach Hyman to injury in Game 4 for the remainder of the playoffs. Capped off with the fact that the Oilers have routinely had shaky goaltending, things weren't looking good.

Setback after setback, Edmonton has responded, and now they face a familiar challenge: win an elimination game. So, with that in mind, let's look at how and why there's reason to believe that the Oilers can make this a best-of-seven series. 

Leadership

Like any team in NHL history that makes a deep playoff run they have seasoned veterans who have either the production that's never left their side even in the playoff's most tense moments or they provide the veteran leadership that propels their teams to overcome whatever obstacle that stands in their way.

The Oilers have veterans who provide both of those qualities, and it's been showcased multiple times throughout these playoffs and, more importantly, this series. 

"He's a guy that's been in these moments. He's not a guy that speaks up or yells at guys all the time; that's not his character. So you know when a guy like that, with that many games and that much experience, he's won everything there is to win, he knows how to win; when he speaks up, you listen. And it grabs your attention." Said Draisaitl to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic about teammate Corey Perry's first intermission speech in Game 4 after surrendering three unanswered Panther goals in the first period. 

Draisaitl wasn't the only Oiler in the dressing room who felt the speech of the 20-year veteran. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse also commented on how Perry’s speech inspired four unanswered goals and an eventual Game 4 overtime victory.

Perry's influence on this Oiler team goes beyond the dressing room, as his 10 goals this postseason are good for second on the Oilers and tied with Marchand for third most these playoffs. With one of his latest goals coming in the final 17 seconds of regulation in Game 2 to force overtime.

If the Oilers manage to force a Game 7 or, better yet, end Canada's 31-year Cup drought, Perry's influence both in the dressing room and on the ice will be a key component.

The Offense  

McDavid and Draisaitl aside, Edmonton's offense has improved since last year's Cup Final. Jake Walman has made many question who he played for before being dealt at this year's deadline, as his nine points have given Edmonton some much needed secondary production on the backend behind Evan Bouchard. The latest example is Walman's second goal of the playoffs, which helped his team mount a successful comeback in Game 4. The goal might go down as one of Edmonton's most pivotal in these playoffs if they lift the Cup because it showed the teams determination.

Depth production is something the Oilers lacked against the Panthers last year. Edmonton had the 10th-best 5-on-5 expected goals last playoffs, and now they're second in that statistic, according to MoneyPuck.com. The biggest difference now being that Adam Henrique's line is more reliable to produce, and it's been mostly because of Trent Frederic.

Last year, Henrique barely centered his own line as he played more on McDavid's wing, as did practically every Oiler last year, and even when he did, it was with Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown on his flanks. The trio couldn't produce any offense. His line had a team-worst 1.7 expected goals for per 60-minute tally. This year, Henrique still plays with Brown, but instead of Janmark, it's been Frederic, and it's made the difference of having a respectable 3.43 expected goals for per 60-minutes number that’s been deployable for head coach Kris Knoblauch.

By having a line such as Henrique's produce, it's given the Oilers three reliable lines that have been able to at least keep up with the deep Panther forward corps.

Another key difference is that the Oilers finally have a healthy Draisaitl in the playoffs. Every post-season, it seems like Draisaitl plays under some sort of pain.

In 2022, he scored 23 points on a high-ankle sprain in nine games. Last year, he had rib and hand injuries and still put up 31 points in the playoffs, but was goalless in the finals. This is omething that's definitely changed this year, as he's got four goals in the finals this year, two of which are overtime winners, contributing to him having the most overtime goals in a single postseason in league history.

With Draisaitl healthy, he has the ability to take over games more than any Panther can, which is scary because he plays with 97.   

Sergei Bobrovsky

Through these five games, Bobrovsky has a .913 save percentage against a stacked Oilers offense. Impressive, yes; maintainable, maybe.

Bobrovsky's track record against this Oiler team isn't all that impressive; in fact, it could be a cause for worry, which may sound crazy at this point, but it's something to wonder about.

Despite opening last year's Final with a 32-save shutout in Game 1 and following it up with solid showings in the Game 2 and 3 wins Bobrovsky lost his swagger. Edmonton stormed back with three straight wins, nearly pulling off the reverse sweep thanks to Bobrovsky's poor play. Bobrovsky would rebound in Game 7, posting a stellar 9.58 save percentage, per NHL.com, to help Florida lift the Cup and avoid embarrassment.

Looking back now, if Florida lost that series to Edmonton last year, the first "where did it all go wrong" for the Panthers would be Bobrovsky's performance in Games 4-6, which contributed to his below-average save percentage of .882. Interestingly enough, Bobrovsky's poor performances against the Oilers last playoffs leaked into this year's regular season. Even though Bobrovsky picked up two wins against the Oilers this year, his combined save percentage through those two games was .861, suggesting his team played great in front of him.

If "goalie Bob" costs the Panthers Game 6 to the team that almost reverse-swept his team last year due to his poor performances, it shouldn't surprise anybody because his track record shows cause for concern.  

Since being eliminated in Game 7 after battling back from a 3-0 series deficit, the Oilers have fought tooth and nail to get a shot at redemption. There are signs for them to at least make it interesting. One being the obvious: they've done it before.