In Edmonton, the Oilers lost their seventh straight game on Thursday night.
And it was an ugly one.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 40 saves in a 6-0 Florida Panthers win.
“We came out a little slow tonight, but [Bobrovsky] was dialed in right from the start,” the Panthers’ Carter Verhaeghe said. “He made huge saves for us all night long, he kept us in the game and we finally got our feet under us later in the game and started to play a little better.”
The loss was the seventh straight for Edmonton.
“This is a true test of leadership,” the Oilers’ Darnell Nurse said. “It’s easy to be a leader when you’re 9-1 or 16-5, it’s easy to lead a team and be the ‘rah-rah’ guy. This right here, getting out of this is a test for all our leaders on our team. Getting out of this is what’s going to make our team better. You have to show up every day with your hardhat on, that’s the only way to get out of this.”
If Leon Draisaitl was cranky before Thursday night, he is going to be down right uncomfortable to be around on Friday.
“I thought the opponent came with a strong start, they were pretty fast, they have a good team, but we worked together,” Bobrovsky said. “The guys had timely blocked shots, they helped a lot on the D-zone, so it’s a great six-people effort in the first period and the whole game long, and it’s definitely fun to be part of it.”
Aleksander Barkov hit for a pair of goals, once on the power play for Florida.
Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe scored in the middle frame to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
Florida piled on in the third period with four more strikes.
“I didn’t like our start at all,” Panthers head coach Andrew Brunette said. “We knew we were coming into a desperate situation, and you have to hand it to them too, they played really well in that first period,” “We maybe weren’t as sharp, but it was maybe more what they were doing. We competed a lot harder in the second and we took over the game. [Bobrovsky] was outstanding in the first period, and through the whole game and that gave us a chance to win here tonight.”
Barkov scored his second in the third period, and Anthony Duclair (power play), and Sam Bennett scored to push the score out to 5-0.
Edmonton dropped to 18-16-2.
“Losing [stinks], you have to keep powering through it,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said. “We worked all week and a lot of the game, we worked, we just didn’t get any results for our work. Then we got behind and we got chasing.”
Owen Tippett scored the final goal of the scrimmage with less than two minutes left on the game clock for the 6-0 final.
Mikko Koskinen made 22 saves in the Oilers loss.
“We had a good start and then they get the lead and then we’re chasing it,” the Oilers’ Duncan Keith said. “No matter who you’re playing and what game you’re in, it’s always hard playing from behind. The way things are going right now, it’s been tough, it’s frustrating, but at the end of the day, it’s going to have to be us in there that pull it together and find a way to stick in those games and keep it close.”
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