McDavid has an idea on how Oilers can beat Florida's PK
It’s been tough sledding for the Edmonton Oilers power play through the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final, but captain Connor McDavid has an idea on how to fix that.
Throughout the first two games, Edmonton’s dangerous power play has been completely shut down by the Florida Panthers. They’ve had seven opportunities with the man advantage but have to find a way to make it count against Sergei Bobrovsky.
That is bad news for an Oilers team that has been cruising along with a lot of help from their PP. McDavid knows how important the power play is and is aware that it needs to find its footing if the Oilers want to get back into this series.
“We need to convert for a variety of reasons,” McDavid said. “It’s tough to generate offence this time of year, both ways. Our power play has always been there for us, it’s always been a weapon, and it needs to be the rest of the series.”
"Our group has willed our way out of situations & I think we have an opportunity to do that here in this series."
McDavid on the confidence of the group heading into Games 3 & 4 in Edmonton.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/igqcVTC6uW
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 12, 2024
Florida’s aggressive penalty kill has been instrumental in stifling the Oilers on the man advantage. While the PK has also been humming along for Edmonton, the Panthers found a way to get on the board in Game 2, ending a perfection streak of 34 straight successful penalty kills for the Oilers.
McDavid told reporters this morning that he has an idea of how they can start converting on their chances.
“I think it’s gotta be a little bit more of a five-on-five mentality in terms of it’s not going to be a structure,” McDavid explained. “Using instinct, we call it playing road hockey, I think we gotta be elite at that.
“The power play has been together for a long time and we have been great at what we do. We usually solve penalty kills and I expect us to figure out this one too.”
Indeed, the Oilers don’t rely on a strict structure all that much when it comes to their power play, which makes it that much more difficult for teams to defend against it. Players are constantly changing positions and the plays are often ad-libbed by each player on the ice.
This creates a nightmare for opposing penalty kills as they can’t properly plan for it. Yet, it seems like the Panthers’ game plan has been to suffocate the Oilers so they don’t have the luxury of moving around the ice.
Now that the Oilers have seen how Florida attacks them, they have a better idea of how to adjust as the series shifts to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4.