Panthers hold off Oilers to move 1 win away from 1st Stanley Cup title
CBC
Connor McDavid's dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup this spring is turning into a nightmare.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves as the visiting Florida Panthers built a big lead before holding on late to down the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Thursday and take a 3-0 chokehold in the best-of-seven title series.
"We had lots of looks," said McDavid, who had two assists in a third-period comeback attempt that fell short. "The game was right there."
Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, with a goal and an assist each, Vladimir Tarasenko and Sam Bennett scored for Florida, which has largely smothered McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers' attack through nine periods.
"The guys step up," Bobrovsky said. "We stay together, we protect the house and just stay patient.
"We take our moments."
WATCH l Barkov scores decisive goal in Game 3:
Warren Foegele, Philip Broberg and Ryan McLeod replied for Edmonton. Stuart Skinner stopped 19 shots.
"Two of the three games probably could have went either way," said Draisaitl, who's tied for second in playoff scoring with teammate Evan Bouchard behind McDavid, but has been held at bay by the suffocating Panthers. "We could be up 2-1 right now, but that's not the case. It's not how this league or how this sport works, unfortunately.
"We've just got to find a way to dig ourselves out."
It's a gargantuan — near-impossible — task ahead.
Teams holding a 3-0 series lead in a best-of-seven final own an all-time record of 27-1.
"There's a lot of belief," Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. "You look at our season this year and we've got two eight-game winning streaks, we've had a 16-game winning streak. When things go well, we can really turn it up.
"It's not like we're getting outplayed and that team is better than us."
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