Forecheck should play key factor in Oilers-Panthers Stanley Cup showdown

Edmonton will be in the spotlight as the Oilers take on the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday. Nahreman Issa has the story.

The two most-physical teams coming out of the conference finals to clash, once again, for the Stanley Cup are also ones who will live and die on opposite ends of the forecheck to influence that all-important hockey statistic: puck possession.

If one team’s got it, the other team doesn’t. One side can score, the other can’t.

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Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Tuesday his team’s strategy at countering the aggressive forecheck of the Florida Panthers is to move the puck quickly while minimizing mistakes.

“The longer you hold on to it, the more time they get to get in and finish their checks, so it’s important that we’re moving it quickly but also precisely,” Knoblauch told reporters Tuesday during the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup media day at the community arena adjacent to Edmonton’s Rogers Place.

“If you’re just sloppy with a puck, then you’re probably chasing the game for most of it.”

The Oilers and the Panthers open this year’s Stanley Cup final on Wednesday at Rogers Place in a rematch. Last June, Florida won the Cup in seven games.

The Oilers made it to the Cup final again by dispatching the Los Angeles Kings in six games, then both the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars in five games each.

The Panthers, meanwhile, are in the final for the third straight June. They disposed of the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven despite falling behind two games to none to start, and the Carolina Hurricanes in five.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said his team’s forecheck is effective because they make the “right decisions at the line” and “don’t dump every puck.”

“I don’t want them to dump every puck, but we also aren’t going to try to make a play at the line every time, and over time, the players have got a pretty good idea what’s coming next,” Maurice told media on Tuesday. “(The player’s) going to put that puck deep, or there’s a play to be made. If you can figure that part out, what you’re doing, and you get to a fairly high percentage rate of being right, then you’ll play faster, so that way your forecheck’s a little faster.”

Led by captain Aleksander Barkov, who won his third Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward this week, Florida plays a hard forechecking style that wears down opposing defences.

A talented, tough-as-nails stable of forwards that includes Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart added Brad Marchand at the trade deadline, and the former Boston Bruins captain has embraced life alongside his former Atlantic Division rivals.

“It doesn’t matter what it is in the series, it takes four to win,” Tkachuk said of his team’s journey the last three years. “You win (or) you learn.”

The blue line added Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks at the deadline, while goaltender Sergie Bobrovsky is again in top form.

“It’s going to be a fun and hard battle,” Barkov said.

This year, star centre Leon Draisaitl said the Oilers have a more balanced attack. Gone are the days when Edmonton relies on just him and Connor McDavid to do most of the scoring. In this spring’s post-season, 19 Oilers players have scored a goal at least once.

“We’re more patient and more trusting in our game,” Draisaitl said. “We seem to have an understanding of when to pounce and when to do the right moves and make the right plays.”

Knoblauch said the Oilers will look at using their speed and puck-handling skills to neutralize the Panthers’ punishing ways.

And that starts on defence, said the coach, who credited general manager Stan Bowman’s work signing the likes of free agent John Klingberg at mid season and trading for Jake Walman, and signing Troy Stecher and Ty Emberson last summer, nevermind the return of top-pairing blueliner Mattias Ekholm from injury just last game.

“Our identity is being a good puck-moving team, and if you don’t have the defencemen that can make those good plays and pass the puck up to the forwards, you’re not a puck-moving team.

“Just to alleviate that pressure from the forecheck, it usually starts with the back end, and we feel very confident with our back end.”

With files from The Canadian Press