EDMONTON - The Edmonton Oilers' quest for a Stanley Cup would be less uphill if they could strike first in a game in the series, says their coach.

The Florida Panthers have outscored the Oilers 7-0 in the first period in three straight games of the Cup final, and 11-4 in first periods overall in the series.

Edmonton trails the best-of-seven championship series 3-2 heading into Tuesday's Game 6 in Sunrise, Fla., where the defending champion Panthers will complete a Cup repeat if the Oilers can't wrest the series home to Edmonton on Friday.

Early deficits and chasing Florida need to be reined in for the Oilers to avoid elimination a second straight year at the hands of the Panthers, said Kris Knoblauch on Sunday.

"Capitalizing early would be something that would be very good for us," was an understatement by the head coach. "I know numerous starts of games we've had quality chances very early in the games. 

"If we're able to capitalize on those, playing with the lead early in the game would alleviate the pressure. We just have to be ready to start. That's so important."

After Connor Brown's semi-breakaway 29 seconds into Saturday's 5-2 loss at Rogers Place, Edmonton didn't register another shot on net for the next eight minutes.

Within seconds of the Oilers launching their first two salvos on Sergei Bobrovsky, the ice suddenly tilted in the Panthers' favour. 

Brad Marchand was quicker to the puck off a neutral-zone faceoff the Oilers won. He beat Mattias Ekholm inside to get to goalie Calvin Pickard, and Edmonton was chasing again.

The Oilers may be the comeback kings of the 2025 playoffs with eight come-from-behind wins, but going to that well again in a Cup elimination game Tuesday against the defending champions is a low-odds scenario, and also didn't happen Saturday.

"It'd be nice to have that lead and play with that, just knowing that they have to open things up when they're trailing," Knoblauch said.

The combination of a short turnaround and the travel between Thursday's Game 4 in Sunrise and Saturday's Game 5 in Edmonton further impeded the Oilers' chances of another comeback victory.

Both teams get a longer breather ahead of Tuesday's Game 6, but the Oilers arguably need more time to top up the tank.

The Panthers up 2-0 after the first period and 3-0 early in the third Saturday were able to hold their top three producers — Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett and Marchand — to a combined 45 minutes of ice time compared to Edmonton's top trio of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and defenceman Evan Bouchard at a combined 76 minutes.

McDavid scored his first goal of the Cup final to cut the deficit to two goals in the third period. He and Draisaitl are the NHL playoff co-leaders at 33 points apiece.

The Oilers need McDavid's offensive wizardry Tuesday while the Panthers will try to take away the captain's time and space.

"There's been a lot of good scoring chances for him," Knoblauch said. "I've got no issues with his game.

"Our team relies heavily on him and Leon and how they're playing. It's tight checking for everyone and it's not going to be a mid-season game against a non-playoff team when there's sometimes (McDavid) has had 10 or 12 scoring chances. 

"Those numbers are obviously reduced playing against a good team like Florida but I think Connor's been one of our best players every single night and that's what we expect."

Knoblauch didn't reveal Sunday whether Pickard or Stuart Skinner would be his Game 6 starter. 

Pickard stopped 14 of 18 shots after 22 of 23 in relief of Skinner in Edmonton's Game 4 overtime win.

The coach stated his choice of goalie was "not an easy decision", but acknowledged life would also be easier on either netminder if the Oilers weren't trying to get up off the mat early.

"It'd be nice to get some goal support and last night was a case where we were having difficulty generating offence," Knoblauch said.

The Panthers beat the Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 to win the 2024 Stanley Cup.  

Florida led the series 3-0 before the Oilers won three straight to send it back to Sunrise.

"Certainly, the context changes when you get this close, but having a bit of an experience does matter," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. 

"It does help in this. We were all pretty wired after Game 3 last year, and I think we can handle that a bit better now."

The Panthers can become the first franchise to clinch each of their first two championships on home ice since the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2025.