Edmonton Oilers power play fatally failing Stanley Cup Final

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What was once their bread and butter has gone stale.

Moldy.

Putrid.

Decomposing.

Just like the corpse of what was once high hopes for the Edmonton Oilers in these playoffs.

Their quest for the Cup appears to have hit a dead end as they fell 4-3 on Thursday to the Florida Panthers, who are now just one win away from their first championship in franchise history.

And they have, in no small part, the Oilers’ power play to thank.

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What do you call a man-advantage when there is no real advantage left?

That just becomes five guys, which is the completely opposite end of the spectrum from what the Oilers were pigeonholed as being prior to this miraculous turnaround of a season that saw them work their way back from 31st out of 32 teams, to being one of the last two standing.

The Oilers used to be criticized for being nothing more than Two Guys and a Power Play. It was a formula that led them to fall short of expectations over their previous playoff runs recently, which lasted one, two or three rounds deep.

So, they switched things up. Connor McDavid traded in his goal-scoring touch to become an absolute assist machine. Leon Draisaitl was his usual effective right-hand man. And the rest of the Oilers prospered under the new regime.

The power play, which finished a season ago by setting an NHL record 32.4%, was once again an effective weapon this time around. But far from the only one in their arsenal.

Zach Hyman chipped in by becoming a 50-goal scorer for the first time in his career. McDavid hit triple digits in assists, like only a handful of the greatest to ever play the game have done. Stuart Skinner seemed to hit his stride while the Oilers also found a reliable backup in net. Finally.

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The new blueprint was sound.

Only someone forgot to tell their power play.

It didn’t hold up its end of the bargain. And it ended up burying the Oilers in the end. Up to their neck, at least. The rest is yet to come with Game 4 on the horizon Saturday (6 p.m., CBC, Sportsnet), with the danger of having a season for the ages literally swept under the rug.

And it had been going so well, too.

At 5-on-4, the Oilers led the way throughout the post-season. Right up until hitting Round 3, when it started sputtering against the Dallas Stars, going 0-for-6 over the first four games, before bouncing back to finish 4-for-5 in the final two to win the series 4-2.

In the Stanley Cup final, the Oilers went 0-for-7 on the man-advantage coming into Game 3 on Thursday, where, with the score tied 0-0, they were promptly gifted not one, but two glorious opportunities to jump out to the early lead they so desperately needed in a series where they had just one goal to their credit up to that point.

After going 0-for-3 on the night, Edmonton’s power play was still sitting at 31.2%, which shows just how good it was over the first two rounds.

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“A lot of looks,” McDavid said following the loss. “I didn’t like the first one, obviously, or the one early in the third, but I liked a lot about the power play. It just didn’t go in. Yeah, it just didn’t go in.”

It’s run into the proverbial brick wall against the Panthers penalty kill of 90.2% here in the post-season, second only to Edmonton’s 93.1%, (which, interestingly, has allowed a power-play goal this round, ending a streak of 34 consecutive successful kills).

“Power plays are based on results, they’re not based on looking good,” Draisaitl said. “We’re always very productive, we’re just not right now, unfortunately.”

At the same time, 5-on-5 scoring has proved challenging for the Oilers, who got three Thursday, including two from forwards Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod. But before that, the Oilers went four full games without a forward scoring at 5-on-5.

So, while they seem to be taking turns, the 5-on-5 offence and power play can’t seem to get on the same page.

“They play with a lot of instinct out there and they’re aggressive,” Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse said of the Panthers penalty kill. “I think our power play is finding a lot of chances and when they convert, hopefully they’ll just continue to go in.

“Our power play is one of the best in the history of the league and I think they’ve got to continue to have the confidence and poise to make plays, because the chances have been there.”

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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