Oilers coach talks value of Cup Final experience: ‘Ask the Buffalo Bills’

Article content

While the Edmonton Oilers roster is made up almost entirely of Stanley Cup Final rookies, the Florida Panthers have been there and done that.

Well, they’ve been there, anyway. In reality, they didn’t. They lost last year.

Still, they have a wealth of Cup final experience and one has to wonder what advantage that could represent in the crucial opening matches of the series. Will they be able to take the plunge while the Oilers are still trying to acclimatize?

Article content

Mattias Ekholm has already seen a team get star-struck in this exact situation. He made it to the 2017 final with the Nashville Predators, facing the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins, and they were down 2-0 before they even knew what hit them.

“We had a team that had maybe a guy that had already seen a final and we had a rough start, we lost both games on the road,” said the veteran defenseman.

“It’s almost like it took a game and a half to realize that, ‘Oh, we need to play hockey too.’ It’s not just a big All-Star Game or a showcase. This is a lesson I learned in this series.

“There’s a lot of media and a lot of requests left and right, but by 8 p.m. on Saturday night we have to be called and ready to go, because if you dip your toes in the water too long, it’s finished in the blink of an eye.”

When asked if Cup Final experience gave Florida an advantage early on, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch wasn’t willing to go for it. Not when his team has already shown plenty of grace under fire this season.

“The experience is good,” he says, before adding that it is not a secret weapon. “You can ask the Buffalo Bills how important the Super Bowl experience is.

Article content

Article content

“I think the most important thing is having the confidence to play and our guys are playing their best. They should have a lot of confidence.

Being able to shake off any jitters and hit the ground running is imperative given that since 1939, the team that won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final has won the series 61 out of 79 times.

So the Oilers will have to rely on the players they have who have been here before – Ekholm, Corey Perry, Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark.

“The Stanley Cup Final is different,” Knoblauch said. “There are more media requests and interviews, just more attention, more things in the papers. It’s nice to have guys who have been through all that to sort it all out and make it seem like it’s just a normal match.

“We just want our players to worry about the game. If you get too caught up in everything that’s going on, guys can get distracted. Having guys who have been there before helps eliminate that.

And it’s not like the Oilers haven’t been around the block a few times. They made eight playoff appearances and reached two conference finals in three years. So even though most of them have never seen Round 4 before, they know something about how to handle the moment, should that ever become an issue.

Article content

And after everything they’ve endured this year, Ekholm is confident they are strong enough to withstand anything.

“When I was traded here last year, we tried to finish the regular season and we didn’t really encounter any adversity,” he said. “When we encountered adversity, we were like, ‘Oh, what is this?’ We haven’t seen this in months.

They couldn’t handle the momentum shifts against Vegas last year and lost a series they were good enough to win. This time, Ekholm sees a steely determination that he believes will serve them well when the puck drops in Florida.

“We’ve done a really good job of not being shaky in these playoffs,” he said. “We suffered an emotional and difficult loss in the first game against Vancouver, but we didn’t let that linger, we immediately got back on the field. These first lessons of the year help you.

“I think we learned a lot from last year, we’re not so fragile about things that happen.”

Email: [email protected]

Article content