Oilers shrug off any concerns about Panthers' physicality

EDMONTON — We heard “The Big Myth” for days prior to Round 3.

“This is a helluva series,” a supposed insider informed me before Game 7 of the Edmonton-Vancouver, Round 2 series, “but neither one of these teams is going to be able to handle the Dallas Stars. They’re too deep. Too good.”

“The Stars' depth” was a talking point that blazed through the lead up to Round 3, the wind of 100 “experts” spreading the narrative like a Northern Alberta wildfire.

As it turned out, Dallas was so deep that in Game 6 at Edmonton, the Stars’ third defence pairing played barely over six minutes, while top dog Miro Heiskanen played 30:28. Up front, that depth was so dangerous, that veterans Joe Pavelski and Matt Duchene finished the series with zero points between them.

Dallas’ fourth-liners, a group that included Sam Steel, Evgeni Dadonov, Craig Smith and Radek Faksa? They combined for a solid two assists and zero goals in six games. And don’t get me started about the goaltending, where Jake Oettinger (series save percentage of .907) was supposed to be so much better than Stuart Skinner (.922).

Depth indeed.

Today, with the Stanley Cup Final still two days away, folks like myself are tasked with predicting what lies ahead. The narrative this time around revolves around the Florida Panthers' “physicality,” a character trait that will surely fell an Oilers team that checks in as formidable underdogs among my brethren punters.

Take that theory inside the Oilers dressing room, and it seems that Connor McDavid and his teammates are as respectful of the Panthers' toughness as they were of Dallas’s great depth.

Nobody is dissing Florida, but nobody sounds very intimidated either.

“It’s the playoffs. It’s the Final. I would expect physicality no matter who we were playing,” shrugged McDavid. “Florida plays a fast game, in your face, aggressive. I don’t think it changes anything.”

Is Florida’s physicality simply “The Big Myth” 2.0?

Does a big, bad Panthers team play any more physical than the Canucks team that outhit Edmonton in Round 2? Of course, Florida is better. But are they somehow tougher as well?

In their previous eight playoff series over the past three springs, these Oilers have encountered numerous opponents whose game plan was to push them off of their game. Can this really be any different?

“We can play any style and we can win any type of hockey game. We’ve shown that over the last numerous months,” said Leon Draisaitl, who is six-foot-two and 209 pounds, and one of the most productive playoff performers of his era. He never has been pushed out of a series to date..

“We’re very comfortable in any situation that’s thrown at us. Whether it’s high scoring, or low scoring, defending and grinding one out. We can win games in any form.”

And if this turns out to be a knock ‘em down and drag ‘em out affair? Can the Oilers stand in with the Big Bad Panthers, the same way they out-depthed Dallas?

For one, Edmonton is the bigger team, with their average player standing six-foot-two and weighing 203 pounds. The average Panther is six-foot-one, 198 pounds.

The Oilers are older — 29.4 years old to 27.9 — with more games of NHL experience: 14,168 to 12,132. So they’ve seen plenty, and experienced it all.

None of that means squat, of course, other than to point out that a team of Edmonton’s size — though it can clearly be defeated — is not about to be somehow intimidated out of a series.

“We can be a physical team, too,” said Draisaitl. “Obviously, we like to play with the puck, but we're certainly not intimidated by physicality. We've handled it well in the Vancouver series, handled as well on the in the LA series. Dallas was a little bit different, but we’re a good enough team. We’ll be ready to go.

“The game is going to be played a little bit different, the style is going to be different, But for me, personally, it doesn’t change much.”

Back on the blue line, Edmonton’s defence corps averages out at six-foot-three-and-a-half and 208 pounds. That doesn’t include the six-foot-seven, 226-pound Vincent Desharnais, who is on call if his presence is required.

Florida’s D-corps sizes up at six-foot-two, 201 pounds, on average. That’s an inch and seven pounds less heft per D-man, not a reason to guarantee victory for the Oilers, of course. But a smaller D-corps may leave Florida more vulnerable to a physical forecheck than Edmonton is.

And then, of course, there are the power plays that result from additional hits and after-the-whistle scrums.

Any of the Oilers previous opponents would warn Florida to make this series a special-teams contest at their own peril. The Oilers, as we know, have the best power play and penalty kill in these playoffs.

“A lot has been talked about their physicality, the way they play,” said McDavid. “If they’re going to take penalties, our power play is what we do.

“I would expect scrums, (but) we’re a veteran team, one of the older teams in the league. I don’t think that stuff bothers guys in here.”

It’s The Big Myth.

Come Saturday, we’ll find out just how real it is.