‘No panic’: How Knoblauch and Oilers handled elimination games
Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch describes the series of elimination games they experienced throughout the post-season, and how they managed to overcome the pressure.
Forget for a moment that the Edmonton Oilers are one victory from becoming the first team based in Canada to win the Stanley Cup since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.
Of much greater historical significance is that with a Game 7 win on Monday against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena
Connor McDavid’s squad is only one victory away from rewriting the history of the National Hockey League, while a seventh game against the Florida Panthers, which seemed improbable a week earlier, will take place Monday at Sunrise.
No team since the first expansion in 1967 has lifted the cup after trailing 3-0 in the final. Only the Toronto Maple Leafs have done it, 82 years ago. Counting all rounds, three other teams have erased three-game deficits: the New York Islanders (1975), Philadelphia Flyers (2010) and Los Angeles Kings (2014).
The Stanley Cup Final will be played in Game 7 for the 18th time, and the first since the St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins in 2019.
While the Oilers have avoided elimination in the last three games and are 5-0 in such playoff encounters, the Panthers get a fourth and final opportunity to win a first Cup after losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in last year’s Finals.
Despite the Panthers’ three straight losses, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch isn’t ready to say his team will be any less nervous.
“I don’t know what’s going on on their side, I don’t know how they’re handling things, so I don’t think it’s fair for me to comment on their position,” he said Saturday.
“My experience with my team, the way we handled the no-win games, we went through some tough times. We played two of those games against Vancouver and I have a lot of confidence in our team in how they responded and played in those games. »
“When we found ourselves [at 3-0] against Florida, I saw a very confident group in which there was no panic, no despair, just a lot of concentration. I liked our team going 3-0 and I really like where they are now. »
Scoring the first goal in a match is desirable at any time. That reality was amplified during Edmonton’s three straight wins in which they scored first — two of them shorthanded — to take the lead over the Panthers.
“When you score first, it takes a lot of the nerves away,” Knoblauch said. It also forces opponents to open things up a little more and maybe not play with as much defensive structure as they would like simply because they are trying to get back into the game and are forcing themselves to score the next goal. »
“It takes some pressure off our team. »
While McDavid’s contribution was at the center of the victories in the fourth and fifth games, the captain did not put his name on the scoresheet in the sixth.
It was Warren Foegele, on a clever pass from Leon Draisaitl in the first period, and Adam Henrique who gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead.
“The fact that we can win the faceoff to punt is a big help, just because we do a really good job on our forecheck,” said Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner.
“We keep their players outside [the crease] and when they have their chance, our players block shots.
