
It's been a while since we saw a Stanley Cup Finals game quite like the one we witnessed in Game Three. And after all that, one thing's pretty clear: Unless the Oilers can reinvent themselves, they're screwed.
EDMONTON OILERS (1-2) vs FLORIDA PANTHERS (1-2)
AMARANT BANK ARENA, SUNRISE, FL
5:00 PM PST/ 8:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
That was pretty embarrassing for the Oilers, not just because of how they got manhandled by the Florida Panthers, but how they handled themselves. Zero discipline, and it played right into Florida's hands. If they can't keep their emotions in check AND figure out a way to handle the way the Panthers just seem to come at them in waves, they're done. If they can't tie this series tonight, it's as good as over.
It's gotta be pretty demoralizing knowing you have arguably the two best players on the planet, and you still can't outscore your opponent. The flaws of the Oilers have been laid bare for all to see, and as we saw in Game Three, one of those flaws is their ability to get suckered into taking stupid penalties. Evander Kane, Darnell Nurse and Jake Walman all let their team down on Monday night, and are going to have to be smarter if they want to stop hurting their team's chances.
LINEUPS
Stanley Cup Final, Game 4
8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC
Florida leads best-of-7 series 2-1
Oilers projected lineup
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Connor McDavid -- Connor Brown
Evander Kane -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kasperi Kapanen
Jeff Skinner -- Adam Henrique -- Trent Frederic
Vasily Podkolzin -- Mattias Janmark -- Corey Perry
Brett Kulak -- Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse -- Troy Stetcher
Mattias Ekholm -- Jake Walman
Stuart Skinner
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Viktor Arvidsson, John Klingberg, Joshua Brown, Cam Dineen, Ty Emberson, Max Jones, Derek Ryan
Injured: Zach Hyman (dislocated wrist)
Panthers projected lineup
Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer -- Tomas Nosek -- Jonah Gadjovich
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola -- Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt -- Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Jesper Boqvist, Uvis Balinskis, Jaycob Megna, Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm, Evan Cormier
Injured: None
So if this nhl dot com generated lineup thingy is correct, the only changes the Oilers are making is Jeff Skinner in for Viktor Arvidsson, and Troy "From Richmond" Stecher slots in to replace John Klingberg, but interestingly and perhaps shockingly, Stuart Skinner will be the starting goaltender in Game Four. Obviously the leash will be short, but if they get the doors blown off early, this will be a huge unforced error on the part of the Oilers. Also, you have to think that Calvin Pickard's agent can't be happy with his client continuing to backup considering Skinner's play over the last couple games.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Look, I know everything's stupid right now. And I am mindful that some of you might look to this place as an escape from all that, so today's hymn is just straight up raise your fist in the air and party kinda fun. With a fantastic homage to Japanese metal pioneers LOUDNESS, here's NEMOPHILA cranking out 'Crazy Nights'. They do a lot of covers, which is fun for the fan base, and this one absolutely knocks it out of the park.
So, enjoy the game, and remember, Game One of the Abbotsford Canucks and Charlotte Checkers goes tomorrow at 4PM PDT, and it's going to be streaming free on YouTube. We're going to post the link in our preview tomorrow so everyone can cheer on the Canucks as they begin the battle for their first Calder Cup Championship! Go Canucks Go!
