Time to face reality.
The momentum in this series has officially shifted away from us. As far as I’m concerned, we are no longer the favorites and this series can go either way now.
Here are some red flags:
-McDavid is starting to score some goals and pulled off a highlight reel assist tonight
-Their PP has broken through
-Our PP looks more inept than ever and is actively costing us games (Brandon Montour is a total liability)
-Our goaltending has come back down to earth hard
-We are squeezing the sticks, making panic plays and clearly feeling the pressure
-We appear to be banged up
Winning Friday can only happen if we see a massive turnaround in net and on our special teams.
I can't believe how bad we are on the powerplay. It's legitimately jaw dropping that, in the Stanley Cup Final, we can't even manage to break even. We are at the stage now where keeping the puck out of our own net on our own powerplay would be an actual accomplishment. I cannot adequately express how embarrassing that is.
Bottom line is we will not be in this position again for a long time. The coaching staff needs to communicate that in the best way possible and instill a killer instinct in this group to take what is right in front of them. These guys have worked their entire lives to win a Stanley Cup and it is slipping away. They've got to settle down and get back to the structured, sound defensive system that got them here in the first place. They have to make the right adjustments (please no more Montour on the powerplay), clean up their sloppy passing, and get back to suffocating the Oilers offense again if they're going to have any chance at winning another game.
I'll end on a positive note: To me, going through this emotional roller coaster and finding a way to stave off Edmonton's comeback to win it all would arguably be more rewarding than cruising to victory - even if these losses really suck. We still have a chance to do just that.
See you all on Friday.