Oilers Need to Play Better, Smarter, and with More Composure

“It is supposed to be hard,” said Corey Perry after Game 2, when talking about the Stanley Cup Final.

He’s 100% right, but too often in this series, the Oilers have made it too hard on themselves. They need to take a deep breath, exhale and rediscover their composure. If they don’t, this series will be over soon.

Let the fans rant and rave about the refs — that’s what fans should do. They can let their emotions get the best of them, but the players can’t.

The refs aren’t the reason the Oilers trail 2-1 in the series. Each team took four minor penalties in the first period last night. Please don’t tell me it was only the Oilers who got soft calls. It wasn’t. Of course, there will be calls along the way that the team doesn’t like, and some might be soft, but Evander Kane has taken an obvious high-sticking call in the first 10 minutes of each of the past two games. Corey Perry had two obvious tripping calls in the first period of Game 1.

Those are penalties all day, but they aren’t necessary. Kane doesn’t need to tickle the chin of the Panthers when he’s delivering a body check. Perry’s first trip was accidental, but clearly a trip, and he’s played quite well, so he’s far from the problem. But taking penalties early in games is killing the Oilers.

They’ve played catch-up for much of this series. The numbers don’t lie…

• The Oilers and Panthers have played a total of 227 minutes and 34 seconds.
• The Oilers have led for a measly 27:47.
• The games have been tied for 73:35.
• The Oilers have trailed for 126:12.
• They led for 9:43 in Game 1 and 18:04 in Game 2.
• They trailed for all but 56 seconds of Game 3.

The Oilers have trailed at the start of the third period in all three games. It is a recipe for failure.

In the Dallas series, the Oilers trailed for 14:02 in THE ENTIRE SERIES. And those minutes occurred in the final 14:02 of the third period. They never trailed again.

The led for 226:48 of the 300 minutes, which was 75.5% of the series. They’ve led for 11.9% of the Cup Final.

Playing from behind all the time is not a recipe for success, and it starts in the first period.

The Oilers haven’t been disciplined enough. They’ve been shorthanded 10 times in the first period through three games. They only took five minor penalties in the first period of the five-game series v. Dallas. They had eight in five games vs. Vegas.

The Oilers players need to get their emotions in check. The Panthers play an aggressive, abrasive style. They will try and goad you into retaliating. They play physical, they chirp, they will whack and slash you, and they will embellish at times. It is called gamesmanship, and right now, they are dominating the Oilers in that area. The Oilers need to focus on playing hard but smart. They are running out of position at times, to make a bodycheck, rather than being in the proper position.