They fell behind the 8-ball early on Monday when Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring at 4:27 of the first period. Edmonton, as it has done all season, came right back with Mattias Janmark tying the game at 6:44. It stayed 1-1 until Sam Reinhart beat Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner under the glove with a wrist shot at 15:11 of the second.
The Oilers did all they could in the third, putting nine shots on Bobrovsky, but though he bent, he would not break.
Janmark said the margin of victory and defeat was slim in this game, but the better team won the Stanley Cup.
“They get a bounce on a goal. Bobrovsky stands tall in the third,” Janmark said. “We have our looks, we have our chances, we [Evan Bouchard] hit the post in the third.
“You can analyze it to death if you want to, but at the end of the night, when somebody beats you in a seven-game series, they are the better team. Good for them, but we were darn close and we are going to be back next year.”
When the final seconds of the game, the Final and the season wound down, McDavid seemed exhausted, having played 25:42, including 9:56, or practically half, of the third period.
He finished the postseason with 42 points (eight goals, 34 assists), and even won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
But after becoming the second skater in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe as a member of the losing team (Reggie Leach, 1976 Philadelphia Flyers), all he wanted to talk about was his teammates and how hard they fought to get to Game 7.
“It goes back to the character of the group that we showed all year long,” McDavid said. “We showed all year long that we could fight back, even in the most dire situations. It’s obviously tough to be down three and it’s tough to win four in a row against a team like that, but we were right there.”
Hyman, with the celebratory music still playing in the background, was asked if the Oilers’ Cup-or-bust season should be viewed as a bust because they came up short.
“It’s hard to look at it black and white. You don’t make the playoffs, then you’re looking at the season as a failure,” Hyman said. “We come a shot away from sending it to overtime. We battled back from three-nothing. We battled back from 3-2 in Vancouver, we battled back from being near the basement in November; 10 points out of a playoff spot.
“So not, I don’t think it’s a failure. I think it’s a huge opportunity to learn from.”
