Oilers Explain Why Game 1 Was a ‘Confidence Booster’ Despite Losing

Getty Edmonton Oilers are pleased with how they played in Game 1.

The Edmonton Oilers lost Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals to the Florida Panthers by a score of 3-0 on June 8, but they have taken away a lot of positives from the game.

Edmonton entered the series as underdogs, but in Game 1, the Oilers outplayed Florida. Edmonton outshot the Panthers 32 to 18 and outshot them in all three periods. Although the Oilers didn’t score a goal, captain Connor McDavid says the game was a confidence booster for the team.

“I know not many people gave us a chance in this series, and I think we showed tonight that we can play with them,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said, via NHL.com. “That’s a confidence booster for this group, but we know that our best can play with anybody.”

Edmonton did prove they can compete with the Panthers and head coach Kris Knoblauch says he liked how his team played in Game 1.

“I know that Florida, that probably wasn’t their best game and I anticipate they’ll be much better in the next one,” Knoblauch said. “They were probably caught off guard with you guys (media) talking about how good they were, and we didn’t have a chance in this series. There’s a lot of things I liked about our game that we can get even better.”

Zach Hyman, meanwhile, was also happy with the way Edmonton played in Game 1 and is confident that his team will be able to score on Sergei Bobrovsky.

“Hockey is a funny game, the key is to not get frustrated. You just continue to play and play your game that’s why it’s a seven-game series and you go out there and you execute. I liked our game, we had our looks, tonight we didn’t score of them and I’m pretty confident we’re capable of scoring,” Hyman said.

Edmonton will look to even up the series in Game 2 on June 10 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

Panthers Know They Have to be Better Against Oilers

Despite being up 1-0 in the series, Florida knows they need to play better in Game 2 against the Oilers.

The Panthers won Game 1 because of the stellar play of Bobrovsky who stopped all 32 shots he faced. Even though Florida won Game 1, forward Carter Verhaeghe says the team needs to play better going forward.

“I think definitely we can be better,” Verhaeghe said, via NHL.com. “There’s always things we can improve on. I think after a week (off before Game 1), we’ll take a win any way we can get it. But they outshot us, they had a lot more chances than us. We shut it down, played good defensively, but there’s lots of things we can improve on.”

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, meanwhile, says his team has lots to improve on but is happy with the result.

“They’ve had an opportunity to see us play, play well, things that we’re good at, so we got lots of room to improve, which is the positive for us tonight,” Maurice said.

Florida did outhit Edmonton 57-to-32 while also being a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill in Game 1.

Stanley Cup Finals schedule

The full 2024 Stanley Cup Finals schedule between the Oilers and Panthers is as follows:

Game 1: Panthers 3, Oilers 0
Game 2: Oilers at Panthers — June 10, 8 p.m. Eastern time
Game 3: Panthers at Oilers — June 13, 8 p.m. Eastern time
Game 4: Panthers at Oilers — June 15, 8 p.m. Eastern time
+Game 5: Oilers at Panthers — June 18, 8 p.m. Eastern time
+Game 6: Panthers at Oilers — June 21, 8 p.m. Eastern time
+Game 7: Oilers at Panthers — June 24, 8 p.m. Eastern time

+if necessary