Oilers' Mattias Ekholm, Kris Knoblauch get 100% honest about chasing Panthers yet again after 2-0 first period in Game 5 SCF loss

Once again, the Edmonton Oilers were playing catch-up after falling behind early in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday.

The Panthers struck twice in the first period to take a 2-0 lead, and despite a scoreless second frame, the Oilers’ third-period push wasn’t enough, as Florida held firm for a 5-2 victory.

Fefenseman Mattias Ekholm and coach Kris Knoblauch acknowledged the team’s recurring issue with slow starts throughout the series.

"I couldn’t agree more. I think we’ve come out flat now with most of the series. So that’s something I think it’s a mindset .... we got to find a way to be better than that in the start," Ekholm said about playing from behind.

Knoblauch echoed those sentiments:

“It is tough playing from behind. We had a good start with some chances early,but then we made a couple mistakes and it cost us.”

Specifically, Knoblauch pointed to the Panthers' goals coming off faceoffs that the Oilers had won.

"They scored two goals off of faceoffs we won. They just beat us to pucks," Knoblauch noted.

The Oilers had come back from a 3-0 deficit in Game 4 to win in overtime 5-4. But in Game 5, the Oilers’ comeback never materialized, Brad Marchand (two), Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen scored for Florida, while Connor McDavid and Corey Perry netted for the Oilers.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots for Florida, while Calvin Pickard had 14 saves.

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Game 5 recap: Oilers 5-2 loss against Panthers

Marchand put the Panthers on board at 9:12 of the first period, jumping on a loose puck off a faceoff and beating Pickard with a backhand-forehand move. Bennett made it 2-0 at 18:06, cashing in a rebound just after a Panthers penalty kill.

In the third, Marchand struck again at 5:12, slipping past Jake Walman and sliding the puck through Pickard’s five-hole to make it 3-0. McDavid responded at 7:24, deking past Bobrovsky to get Edmonton on the board.

However, Florida answered quickly — Reinhart restored the three-goal lead at 8:10 off a Barkov feed. Perry cut it to 4-2 with a slap shot at 16:47 with the extra attacker, but Luostarinen sealed it with an empty-net goal at 18:41 for a 5-2 Panthers win.