Edmonton Oilers look to avoid being swept by Florida Panthers in Stanley Cup Final
Global News
Only one team in NHL history has come back all the way back from a 3-0 deficit in a final.
Zach Hyman waited as the halo of reporters and cameras got into position.
Surrounded on all sides in the Edmonton Oilers’ media-filled locker room, the winger toed the company line.
Despite being down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup final to the suffocating and well-drilled Florida Panthers, his club has done a lot of good things in this series.
They’re right there. Ill-timed mistakes have cost them.
“It’s not like we’re going out there and getting absolutely dominated by a team that’s better than us,” said Hyman, who has combined to score 68 times in 2023-24, but has been held off the scoresheet in this series. “It’s moments in the game where they’ve shown a little bit more maturity than we have.”
The Oilers made a trio of crucial mistakes in a 4-3 loss in Game 3 that pushed them to the brink of elimination Saturday — the potential end to magical spring in Alberta’s capital.
A poor 2-on-1 read, a blunder behind Edmonton’s goal, an egregious giveaway in the defensive zone. Those mistakes all ended up in the back of Stuart Skinner’s net.
“This series is 3-0, but it doesn’t feel like a 3-0 series,” Hyman said following Friday’s practice. “It feels like for a lot of it, we’ve been controlling the game, and there are moments in the game where we’re giving freebies up.
