Oilers coach even said in post game when a reporter asked him why he played McDavid and Draisaitl together early on. He tried to answer politically, but part of his answer was the team was down early. So they had to commit to stacking the line playing catch up.
So basically, Skinner letting in a couple goals in the first period forced the coach's hand to burn out McDavid and Draisaitl. It transformed into a game where it's all or nothing as the other 3 lines would do zero.
Its a bad situation to be in since the team's scoring is so reliant on two players to carry the scoring. Coaches stack lines later in the game or third period. But the team is already down fast with zero momentum, it forced Knoblaugh into desperation mode in the first period.
If the teams switched goalies where Oilers got Bobby and Panthers had Skinner it would be a totally different series.
