The Edmonton Oilers lost embarrassingly to the Florida Panthers in Game Three of the Stanley Cup Final 6-1 to put the Cats just two wins away from their second consecutive championship. Though the contest wasn’t completely out of reach when the third period began, Florida scored one more goal to all but put things away and make the score 5-1.
“Well, definitely the third period’s an unraveling. I think the game was out of hand,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch after the loss. “I don’t think we would have acted or played like that had the game been a one-goal or two-goal game.”
Mistakes were a killer for the Oilers, who have averaged 12 penalty minutes per game so far this postseason. However, last night, Edmonton was assessed 85 penalty minutes.
“Boys being boys,” Knoblauch explained. “The first period, obviously, there [were] four penalties, which is way too many. We shouldn’t have those, but I kind of question some of those penalties.”
Knoblauch wasn’t the only member of the Edmonton Oilers organization to express displeasure with the penalty calls. Team captain Connor McDavid also spoke about the penalties.
GAME 3 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINAL HAS TURNED INTO A LINE BRAWL 🤯😱 pic.twitter.com/pdDkUNh5yZ
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 10, 2025
“It was a weird game,” McDavid told reporters after the game. “Obviously, when you start in the first with four penalties, almost half the period you’re killing, so [that’s] not a good way to get into your game… Never got to our game.”
Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner described the game as “penalty chaos.” Both teams were called for 140 combined penalty minutes, the fourth-most ever in a Stanley Cup Final game.
“Right away, I think we ended up playing what Florida kind of wanted,” Skinner said during a postgame interview. “A little bit of a track meet. Grinding lots of penalties. It was just penalty chaos tonight.”
Skinner admitted that the constant string of penalties threw off his ability to get into a rhythm at the start of the game.
“It’s definitely tough just because there’s not a lot of flow because there’s no five-on-five,” he described. “You’re watching for two minutes. Then you’re playing for two minutes. Then, you’re watching for two minutes, playing for two minutes, and that was kind of the whole first period. It’s definitely difficult.”
“We feel like we can play any game,” said Connor McDavid. “Obviously, as I said, the penalties in the first hurt us. You’re down two. You’re chasing it. It’s tough.”
You will not see many Stanley Cup Final games like that one — 140 total penalty minutes pic.twitter.com/uCtqLg2pa2
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 10, 2025
Kris Knoblauch did say that he thought the referees called the game fairly, but that did not feel like that was the case at the end of Game Two, which the Oilers lost in double overtime.
“The referees, I think they did an outstanding job tonight. And they even caught the Too Many Men penalty in the first period, which was too many men,” Knoblauch explained. “They caught us there. I just wish they had been calling the game in Game Two in overtime.”
Special teams and the constant flow of penalties ended up messing with the Oilers’ psyche.
“Well, five-on-five, I don’t think we found our game, and that’s the first period. Special teams taking it out of it,” Knoblauch said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who really didn’t get much ice time in the first period unless they’re on the penalty kill or [the] first unit power play. There really wasn’t much for those guys… After they scored their third goal, it was difficult for us to get our get our game after that.”
The Oilers and Panthers are both off until Game Four, which will take place on Thursday in Sunrise, Florida. The puck drop in that game is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EDT.
