EDMONTON — It wasn’t quite the famous Mark Messier guarantee, but Jake Walman’s words after a dreadful loss in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final had the same sentiment.
“This was always going to be a long series,” the Edmonton Oilers defenseman told after a 5-2 home-ice defeat to the Florida Panthers left his team on the brink of dropping a second straight Final.
“We’re going to come back here after a game there, and that’s it. There’s no doubt.”
Walman, Edmonton’s key trade-deadline acquisition, had perhaps his worst performance as an Oiler. His team was caved in when he was on the ice, and he was schooled by Brad Marchand before a goal that stood as the game winner.
His subpar play mirrored that of most of his teammates.
The entire group was as flat as a pancake for most of the game, only finding some life when Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the series 7:24 into the third to put the Oilers within two. Sam Reinhart then replied 46 seconds later, quashing whatever faint hopes existed of a victory.
Watching the Oilers bumble around the ice on Saturday night leaves little optimism that a championship is even close to a possibility.
Then again, the way the Oilers have responded magnificently throughout the playoffs when they’ve looked dead and buried is reason enough to change that viewpoint and subscribe to Walman’s.
“Knowing that we’re in a difficult situation, win our last two games, is something that we’re confident that we can do,” said coach Kris Knoblauch. “We’ve been through difficult situations before, and it’s just another one that we’ll overcome.”
That the Oilers are bold and brazen makes sense.
After all, these are the same Oilers who trailed the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 in their opening-round series and heading into the third periods of the next two games at home. They charged back to knock off the Kings with relative ease.
These are the same Oilers who gave the Vegas Golden Knights life with a last-second own-goal in Game 3 of the second round, a result that could have shell-shocked them. They proceeded to drop the hammer, shutting out the Golden Knights in back-to-back games to close them out.
These are the same Oilers who collapsed in the third period of the Western Conference final opener against the Dallas Stars by allowing five unanswered goals. They then mopped the floor with the Stars, handling them while claiming the next four games.
And these are the same Oilers who, after a terrible 6-1 loss in Game 3 to the Panthers, overcame a three-goal deficit in Game 4 to even the series. That was their eighth comeback win of the playoffs.
Count these Oilers out at your peril.
“We know that we can get it done,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the longest-serving Oiler. “It’s just a matter of going out there and finding a way to do it. It’s going to be our hardest challenge yet.”
That’s the case because of the way they played for most of Saturday’s contest. Save for little spurts that were few and far between, the Oilers were awful.
Walman and Mattias Ekholm struggled mightily in what was their second attempt at a partnership after a mere 1:31 together at five-on-five during the regular season, per Natural Stat Trick.
The Oilers were outshot 4-1 and out-attempted 10-2 in the 5:09 Ekholm and Walman shared the ice at five-on-five in the opening frame.
Ekholm had his worst performance since returning from a lower-body injury for the West final climax. He was on the ice for both of Florida’s first-period goals against and was a team-worst minus-3. Walman was on with Ekholm for the second of those tallies.
The Oilers have now allowed 11 goals against in the first period in this series, at least two in every game.
“It’s frustrating when you come into the (dressing) room and you’re down,” Walman said. “We’re struggling to get to our game right away. It takes us a little bit. I don’t know what the reasoning is.
“We have it in us to play the way that we want.”
Ekholm was back with his regular partner, Evan Bouchard, for the second. Walman’s night, meanwhile, was bookended by being walked by Marchand.
“That’s a good player,” Walman said. “S—-y feeling as a defenseman. I want to have that one back. I’ve just got to play everybody hard. It doesn’t matter who they are.”
The Oilers had little offensive pop and went the final 11:10 of the first period without a shot on goal.
Knoblauch leaned into his nuclear option of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the second but had to rotate in wingers Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson to spell off elder statesman Corey Perry.
Zach Hyman’s absence was never felt more. The superstars didn’t have their ace complementary winger, and the lineup seemed thinner than ever. McDavid was tasked with playing 25:49, for instance.
To the surprise of no one, Calvin Pickard got the start after making 22-of-23 saves in relief of Stuart Skinner from the second period onward of a 5-4 overtime win in Game 4.
Pickard’s magic ran out as he suffered his first loss in eight decisions in these playoffs after allowing four goals on 18 shots. That calls into question whether he or Skinner should get the call for the pivotal Game 6, the first time all postseason the Oilers are facing elimination.
“From what I saw, Picks didn’t have much chance on all those goals,” Knoblauch said. “There was nothing saying that it was a poor performance.”
Given all that happened with the Oilers on Saturday night, it could feel like the Oilers’ season might as well be over.
Just eight teams have overcome a 3-2 series deficit to win the Stanley Cup, none since the Boston Bruins in 2011, back in Marchand’s first full NHL season.
The Oilers have a herculean task ahead of them: being the first to beat the defending champs in their own barn and, if they manage that, to then beat them at home. The Panthers just earned their 10th road win, tying an NHL record.
“At this time, it’s more about looking forward. I’m not too big on looking in the rearview mirror,” Ekholm said. “We’ve just got to go down to Florida and win a game.”
The Oilers must be considerably better than they were in Game 5 if they want to get revenge in this matchup and win the first Stanley Cup by a Canadian club in 32 years and end a 35-year franchise drought.
But if there’s a team that can do this, it just might be this one.
This Oilers club has leapt over just about every hurdle they’ve faced over the last two months.
What’s one more?
“We have confidence in ourselves that we can get the job done,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “What’s left is easier said than done. You’ve got go do it, so we’ll look forward to that.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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