By setting the tone short-handed. By putting the Panthers behind the eight ball despite having the man advantage.
After building up a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers have had two chances to put the Oilers away and clinch a Stanley Cup title.
Twice they’ve had the chance to set the tone with early power plays, one each in Games 4 and 5.
Twice they’ve allowed short-handed goals from an Edmonton penalty kill that has opened the scoring in both those games, Oilers wins each time. It is the first time in NHL Final history that a team has opened the scoring in consecutive games with a short-handed goal.
In Game 4, it was Mattias Janmark who put the Oilers up 1-0 just 3:11 into the game with teammate Darnell Nurse in the penalty box serving a hooking minor. The Oilers would hold the lead for the remainder of the game en route to an 8-1 victory.
In Game 5 Tuesday, it was Brown’s turn to produce short-handed heroics, beating Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with a nifty deke to give Edmonton a 1-0 advantage at 5:30 of the first period and Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak serving a high-sticking minor. Once again, Edmonton would not trail in the game and ended up with a 5-3 victory.
