Could Connor Brown have taken a better route? I guess. However, it was incumbent on Adam Henrique to keep skating. If he does, I believe he could have caused more havoc on the cross-ice pass.

Here was another example that led to a great chance against. In this case, it was Brett Kulak trying to exit his zone. This is something the Oilers need to sort out. The pairing involving Nurse and Kulak was constantly exposed to having to make plays on their backhand. The Panthers pushed this pair to their weak side, and it yielded positive results.

Watch the clip here. Kulak is retreating and decides to push the puck up the ice instead of trying to retreat and use the net as a shield. He’s on his backhand and does not get very much on the puck, and the Panthers are on the attack. Goal against.

We are going to talk about the Nurse-Kulak pairing later in this post in terms of what can be done, but this clip demonstrates exactly the issue. The two of them are going to be challenged to make plays on their backhand, and those plays need to be certain.

The Florida Forecheck and The Oilers’ Response

This was the battle I was most interested in coming into the series. Obviously, the Panthers were not going to change their forecheck. It is the single reason above all why they are playing in their third straight Stanley Cup.

What I was focused on was what the Oilers’ defence could do against it, and how the Oilers’ forwards would be involved. My key was the Oilers having a forward in support of the defence on the retrieval. To me, this is the key to breaking this forecheck. Give these good skating and, for the most part, good passing defencemen a short passing option who can support them.

The Oilers had some bad moments, no question. Look at this clip here involving Evan Bouchard. I am certain everyone was yelling at Bouchard after this play. However, I want you to watch Connor McDavid and Corey Perry when Bouchard gets the puck. Both players go back up the ice, and worse, both of them get on the backside of another Panther forechecker. What is Bouchard supposed to do here?

Bouchard needed one of them, preferably McDavid, to come back and give him another option below the puck.

Watch what happened in a very similar play when Bouchard gets a short passing option. This time, McDavid comes all the way back and makes sure he is below the Florida forecheck to start. Bouchard makes a great little play to McDavid, and the Oilers head back up the ice to tie the game.

Here is another great example of what can be done when the Oilers forwards help out low. This starts with the Panthers in a perfect offensive zone check.

Now watch Connor McDavid. He works all the way back down to the corner to ensure the puck gets up the wall. Draisaitl ensures the Florida pinch cannot get around him by building a wall. Corey Perry helps the cause by sprinting up the ice.

This does two things: gives Draisaitl a passing option and takes a Florida checker with him, creating a weakside seam. Draisaitl finds Jake Walman, who was brilliant all night. It leads to a good attempt on the net.

The final example led to the power play in overtime. Again, the Panthers get the puck in deep, but look at both Nugent-Hopkins and Arvidsson get low to out.

The Panthers’ F3, Nosek, cannot attack because there are four Oilers under the forecheck with their toes pointed up ice. Arvidsson makes a wonderful play to Podkolzin, who returns the favour, and eventually it leads to a delay of game penalty.

The Oilers’ structure on breaking the Panthers’ forecheck was quite good in this game. It had tough moments in the second period on the long change, and there were other spots where it wasn’t good enough. Overall, though, the Oilers executed against this tactic really well, and that will be a key to this series above any other tactical element.

Notes For Game 2…

The Oilers have developed some winger pairings. There is still work to be done on the third line, but the pairings of Kane and Kapanen and Podkolzin and Arvidsson were very good. All four of these players left their impressions on the game in a positive way. Kane struggled some at the bluelines for better parts of the night, but left his imprint on several Panthers along the wall. Arvidsson also had similar challenges. However, as the game went on, those two pairings had major impacts on the game. We have already seen the tying goal by the Oilers involving Ekholm and McDavid. However, it also involved Kapanen and Kane.

The first goal also involved Kane and Kapanen. The size of these two players and the desire to go to the net without hesitation created havoc that left Leon Draisaitl open to clean up the rebound.

It is notable that Kane and Kapanen had good results with both Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as their center. This allows a lot of flexibility for the Oilers’ coaching staff in running match-ups, which they did all night.

On Podkolzin and Arvidsson, we have already seen their role leading to the overtime power play. However, Arvidsson also scored a goal off a great counterattack that was led by Podkolzin. It starts off with the Oilers taking advantage of a gap in the Panthers’ forecheck. Podkolzin gets a great quick up and then drives this play into the Panthers’ zone. After he drops the puck, he takes defenders, allowing Arvidsson to get a few more steps in before launching the rafter-tickling slapper.

The third line involving Adam Henrique, Trent Frederic, and Connor Brown had good moments and bad. However, it should be noted that this line spent more time against the Barkov line than any other Florida line. The line held the Barkov line to a stalemate on the fancy metrics and no goals while playing against them. More interestingly, the line was actually quite good when they played with any pairing not involving Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak. When the Henrique line was on the ice with Klingberg and Walman, which is a five-man unit I was hoping for, the group carried the play. Yes, they were scored on, but they also had an expected goal share of more than 60% in this game. Play like this in every game, and the results will be good.

The Nurse-Kulak pairing. Sigh. This needs something. I am on record saying the group needed some run in the Stanley Cup. However, the early results were not great. With the strong play of Walman and Klinberg, I am not sure you can move the pairings around much, although Paul Coffey did try. There was a ray of sunshine in their play with Kapanen, Nugent-Hopkins and Kane. Perhaps if the team runs this line-up back, the play would be to put this pairing with this line or the Draisaitl version of this line to cover them. There is no question in Florida, the Panthers will try and attack this pairing. So it is imperative that a solution be found in Game 2.

Stuart Skinner was brilliant. When he needed to stop the Panthers from scoring another goal, he did. When his team needed a save because they were wilting, he gave it to them. He was strong, and that is a massive change from last year.

That’s it for the Game 1 review. Enjoy the off day and see you back here on Saturday morning after Game 2.