The Oilers need more physical pushback against the Panthers in Game 2

The Edmonton Oilers knew they were going to be in for a physical Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers. Game 1 was everything as expected, as the Panthers stuck to their team’s makeup and brought their in-your-face style, landing 57 hits compared to the Oilers 32.

The Oilers didn’t look intimidated at all or knocked on their heels and while the score may have been 3-0 in Game 1, Edmonton, as a whole, appeared to be happy with the way they played after the Game 1 loss.

The Oilers can expect much of the same from the Panthers in Game 2, and considering they are inserting Vincent Desharnais into their lineup, a 6-foot-6 defensemen who doesn’t shy away from contact, it’s becoming quite obvious they’re preparing for another physical battle on Monday night.

In Game 1, it was the Panthers’ usual suspects who came out laying the body as Matthew Tkachuk landed five hits. Meanwhile, Sam Bennett finished the game with 11 hits.

During Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk were joined by Josh Clipperton of the Canadian Press and discussed what they saw from the Oilers’ ability to manage the Panthers’ physical presence in Game 1:

Tyler Yaremchuk: So, I think we can connect the dots, like we did earlier Frank, the Oilers go 12 (forwards) and six (defensemen), Ceci’s out, Kane’s in, and Evander Kane, not at his best, but I actually did think, because there’s a lot of talk coming into this series about how the Oilers are going to handle the mean tough Florida Panthers, I thought Kane, for all the things he didn’t do well, did a good job kind of punching back a few times. He got a good run in on Sam Bennett, how did you make of the way the Oilers handled the physicality of the Panthers?

Josh Clipperton: I thought it was fine. I think there’s a lot of talk about that, I thought it was completely fine. They’re bringing Desharnais in, he’s very excited to be coming into the lineup, we just talked to him downstairs. We call him and Darnell Nurse the twin towers as it looks like Cody Ceci is out. I thought it was fine, obviously Connor (McDavid) took a couple of hits, and Evander Kane will the push back, I wanna see more of it to be honest.

If I’m an Oilers fan, I want to see more pushback. You know the Panthers, not that they lulled them to sleep, but it’s within the Oilers’ interest to muck this up a little bit sometimes. You can get into (Sergei) Bobrovsky’s grill, there was Zach Hyman, as Bobrovsky’s five feet out of his crease, but still, that’s where you got to go, right.

And, I think it’s an important part of the game, the dark cards I like to call it, the things that go unnoticed and I think that can be a great equalizer. Guys like Corey Perry, the ultimate accidently on-purpose player in league history, I think that is why you get a guy like that, and Evander Kane is that guy too.

For the entire episode previewing Game 2 between the Oilers and Panthers, and much more from around the league, watch here: