3 things Florida Panthers did wrong in Stanley Cup Final Game 6 loss to Edmonton Oilers

The Florida Panthers dropped a crucial Game 6 to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place 5-1. With the series now even at three games apiece, the action shifts to Game 7 in South Florida.

The Edmonton Oilers will look to cap off a miraculous comeback, while the Panthers will try to capture their first Stanley Cup after failing to close out the series three games in a row.

It’s worth looking at what went wrong for the Florida Panthers in Game 6.

3 things that went wrong for the Florida Panthers in Game 6

#1: The Panthers could not stop Edmonton’s depth scoring

The Florida Panthers managed to keep Connor McDavid in check in Game 6. However, that mattered little as the Oilers’ depth scoring stepped up when most needed. Goals from Warren Foegele and Adam Henrique put the Oilers up 2-0. Then, Zach Hyman added a third to make the score 3-0.

Florida did a good job of neutralizing McDavid’s game-breaking speed. But the Panthers could not stop Leon Draisaitl from using his unique skill set to wreak havoc.

#2: Turnovers killed the Panthers

Turnovers killed the Panthers in Game 6. The Foegele goal was a prime example. A bad play in the neutral zone led to a turnover, which then became a 3-on-2 rush. Draisaitl waited till the last second to send a nifty feed across the slot to Foegele.

In the Henrique goal, the Florida Panthers got caught on a bad change. Three Florida Panthers were caught in the offensive zone with no one to get back into the play. Then, Mattias Janmark slid a pass across to Henrique, who buried his fourth of the season.

The Hyman goal occurred in a similar situation, in which a broken play led to a breakaway opportunity that Hyman did not miss.

#3: Bobrovsky let his team down

Sergei Bobrovsky has been brilliant throughout the postseason. Then, it’s almost as if a switch was turned off. Now, Bobrovsky has been unable to bail his teammates out when they make bad plays. The Hyman goal was a perfect example.

After Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Fosling got caught in the offensive zone, they could not get back in time to stop Hyman from getting a scoring chance. Ekblad stopped skating while Forsling almost caught up to Hyman.

Unfortunately for the Florida Panthers, Hyman outplayed Bobrovsky with a tremendous deke. Had Bobrovsky made the save, the game would have stayed 2-0. Instead, the game was seemingly out of reach at that point.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Foegele and Hyman goals were shots to the blocker side. Bobrovsky looked slow to react, allowing the shots to beat him. While Bobrovsky would have normally stopped those shots, they were goals in Game 6.