In Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals the Edmonton Oilers skated well, defended well (mostly), and heavily outchanced the Panthers at 5 on 5. The one thing they did not do was score.

Bobrovsky was unbelievable all night and the clear first star of the game as the Oilers couldn't get a single shot past him, even on multiple breakaways. Edmonton will need to find greasier ways to get pucks past Bob while also expecting the Panthers as a whole are likely going to play much better than they did in Game 1.

It looks like a few line changes are to be expected in tonight's game, most notably that Cody Ceci will be a healthy scratch for the first time in his Oilers career. It looks like Vincent Desharnais will get back into the lineup with Darnell Nurse, Kulak with Broberg, and Ekholm with Bouchard.

The Nurse-Ceci pairing was put together again for reasons that escape logic and to the shock of no one at this point, that pairing floundered on both of the Panthers two goals. I heard some comments that Kulak wasn't comfortable on his off-side with Nurse but the response should never have been to put Ceci back in that position.

Stuart Skinner was fine in Game 1 but you hope he can stop at least one of those first two goals against. Regardless, it's hard to fault him for a loss when the team cannot score a single goal. There were a few moments where Connor McDavid tried to skate through four Panthers players on the powerplay; trying to will something to fruition. Hopefully the captain took a look at the game footage and reset himself, knowing that the team needs him to find his teammates instead of try to take it all on his shoulders.

If the Oilers can play like they did in Game 1 along with some adjustment than they are certainly a team that can hang with the Florida Panthers. The Oilers have not put their best foot forwards throughout the playoffs in Game 1. Edmonton needs to find a way to get to their best tonight, pressure Bobrovsky and find a way to even this series.

Evander Kane did not practice today but is expected to play, likely somewhere in the bottom six as it looks like Adam Henrique is going to play next to Leon Draisaitl and Dylan Holloway.

The Stanley Cup Finals are a war of attrition. Game 1 went to the Panthers; now we have to wait and see how the Oilers will respond.

Thanks for reading.

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