Three Takeaways: Panthers Loss vs Oilers – 11/12/22

Welcome to Full Press Hockey’s Takeaway series on the Florida Panthers. After each Panthers game of the 2022-23 season, our Florida Panthers beat writer, Alex Slemp, will recap the game and give you his three biggest takeaways from the matchup. Today we will have a look at the Florida Panthers’ loss vs the Edmonton Oilers. You can follow more of his work on the Florida Panthers here, and also tune into his podcast where he talks the latest on all things Florida Panthers.

The Florida Panthers came up short yesterday afternoon vs the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2.

Panthers’ Win Streak Comes to an End vs the Oilers

The visiting Oilers handed the Panthers their first regulation loss at home this season.

The Panthers, as they usually do, came out firing in the first period. They peppered the Oilers netminder, Stuart Skinner, with 18 shots on net through the first frame. 

But the young Skinner was up for the task. The Oilers’ backup (or should-be starter with Jack Campbell’s early season woes) prevented the Panthers from getting on the board until the third period. By then the clock became the Cats’ biggest enemy. The late-game heroics by Sam Bennett was not enough to propel the Panthers to victory and Florida’s hard-fought effort was all for naught.

This game saw some familiar faces make their return to the Panthers lineup. Patric Hornqvist returned to the ice and played quality hockey from the fourth line. Matthew Tkachuk returned from his two-game suspension and faced a familiar foe in Edmonton. Lastly, the highly anticipated return of star defencemen Aaron Ekblad was made. 

The Panthers and Oilers only face each other two times a year, and so the Florida faithful came out in droves to hopefully catch a glimpse of the most electric player in the NHL, Connor McDavid.

But both teams did a good job limiting the others’ stars in the offensive zone. Mcdavid was only able to collect one assist, which came from a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins empty net goal.

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Failure to Capitalize Early 

The Panthers put the Oilers on their heels early. Florida had a great opportunity to take advantage of a tired Oilers team and put this game away early but couldn’t beat Skinner. 

Edmonton was coming off an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes the other night. It was their third game in four nights and the Oilers were licking their wounds as they limped into FLA Live Arena. 

Edmonton wasn’t able to register their first shot on net until halfway through the first. By that mark, the Panthers already had fired 11 on goal. 

The Cats finished the first period with 18 shots, one power play, one shot off the crossbar, and another shot off the post. 

It should have been all Panthers in this one but Stuart Skinner shut the door and allowed the Oilers to escape the first period tied.

By the time the second period began the Oilers had settled in and found their legs. Tyson Barrie would get the Oilers on the board and the Cats were chasing the rest of the way.

Had the Panthers been able to capitalize early in the first, they could have set the tone and further demoralized an already beaten-up road team. 

Florida does a great job creating high-volume offense but they need to start burying those chances early and forcing teams to catch up to them instead of vice-versa.

This is a game the Panthers will look back on and kick themselves for not capitalizing as early as they should have.

Ekblad Looks Good in Return to Play

It was the long-awaited return of star defencemen Aaron Ekblad. After sustaining a lower-body injury in the third game of the season, Ekblad made his way back into the lineup. 

He didn’t look much worse for wear either. He wouldn’t have come back into the lineup if he wasn’t 100% healthy and ready to assume his usual minutes on the ice. So you knew he’d be effective coming in.

But missing 11 games is a lot and it takes time to find your legs and get your rhythm back. 

Ekblad logged 23:42 in ice time and had three shots on net and took two penalties. The former number-one pick had great positioning all night and was excellent in quarterbacking the power play as well as playing a shutdown role on the penalty kill. 

He also had some great opportunities to put the puck in the net but his accuracy was a little off last night. 

It was encouraging to see that Ekblad seemingly hasn’t missed a beat. And as Paul Maurice said after the game, he is only going to get better.

His return to the lineup is obviously a big boost to the team. When asked about Ekblad’s return after the game, Bennett mentioned, “It’s huge, just having his presence in the locker room. Obviously, we know how good he is on the ice, he’s one of the best defensemen in the league.” Bennett further added that his leadership is huge for the guys in the locker room.

Different Centre Same Results for the Third Line

With Rudolfs Balcers gone and the trio of Hornqvist, Ekblad, and Tkachuk returning, Maurice elected to juggle the lines. That juggle was swapping centres Bennett and Anton Lundell. Lundell was moved to the second line and Bennett down to the third. 

This is a move that I predicted would happen at the start of the year. And it’s one that looked great in its debut.

The third line, still consisting of Colin White and Eetu Luostarinen was brilliant again. They created a ton of energy and seemed to have a good scoring chance every shift. 

Bennett made the most of his third-line minutes by scoring a couple of goals to get the Panthers back into this one. White also had a golden opportunity in the slot but was denied by Skinner. And Luostarinen was all over the front of the net the entire night. 

It’s a great look for this line. It always pleases a coach when he can switch up the lines and see the chemistry be instantaneous. And that is a result of the work that Maurice did during the pre-season. Maurice made it a priority to have his guys play with as many different linemates as possible so that he knew who could play with who if he had to juggle his lines. 

Sam Reinhart also looked good playing with his former centreman from last season. Reinhart had a career year playing alongside Lundell and the two should be helping drive that second line in the coming games. 

Up Next

The Florida Panthers are back on the ice on Tuesday, November 15 when they host the Washington Capitals.

This will be the first meeting of the season between the former division rivals. Florida won the season series last year 2-1, outscoring the Caps 13-12. 

Each game was decided by one, so we can probably expect another tight game between these two.

Puck drop is at 7:00 pm EST.