The Oilers have not yet rallyed from the 2-0 series deficit of the McDavid era – Hockey writer – Edmonton Oilers

In putting games 1 and 2 of the first round of the game against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena, 6-5 and 6-2, respectively, the Edmonton Oilers are now facing four of the next five games to advance in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Related: 4 reasons why the Oilers trailed the Kings 2-0 in the first round

It’s not good to Edmonton to achieve it. In NHL playoff history, teams trailing 2-0 in seven best series in just 13.7% of the wins. The Oilers previously trailed 2-0 in the seven best series and won only once. This happened in the second round of the 2006 playoffs, when Edmonton bounced back to four games and eliminated the San Jose Sharks in six games.

In fact, Edmonton is more likely to be swept away than to use it as a competitive series. Of the 10 times they trailed 2-0 in the seventh series, the Oilers won only Game 3, winning just four times, and they lost 4-0 five more times.

It’s the fourth series of the Connor McDavid era, with the Oilers trailing 2-0, with all four instances coming in the past five playoffs, so Edmonton’s core player community should appreciate the appeal of what they’re in now.

The question now is, how will they respond? Looking back on the past three times, Edmonton lost two games to the series’ opening.

2021 First Round with Jets

The 2021 season is a strange season. Due to the pandemic, divisions were re-adjusted and the schedule was shortened, with Canadian games not attending fans. So when Edmonton lost to the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Place, no one was witnessing history in person. It was the only time the Oilers lost the first two games of the series on the home ice.

Given unprecedented circumstances, there seems to be no far-fetched Oilers can achieve something unique by entering the Bell MTS Place and beating the host Jets.

For the Oilers, the third game went smoothly, with the Oilers leading 4-1 in less than nine minutes. But instead of starting an epic comeback in the series, Edmonton made an epic comeback in the game, scoring three goals in 183 seconds to equalize things with a 4-4 run. Winnipeg continued to win in overtime when Nikolaj Ehlers scored 9:13 in a sudden death.

Game 4 was equally heartbreaking for the Oilers: They exploded in the third stage and eventually lost the lead in triple overtime. Kyle Connor scored a series goal for Winnipeg at 6:52 in the third OT period, ending the third-longest game in Edmonton’s NHL NHL playoff history.

2022 Western Conference Finals and Avalanche

Edmonton beat the 2022 conference champions 8-6 and 4-0 at Ball Arena, 1 and 2 defeated the Colorado Avalanche 8-6 and 4-0, respectively.

Back home before the electric crowd at Rogers Place, the Oilers jumped to a 1-0 lead with a 38-second advantage, when McDavid took a spot in development. Colorado scored the next two goals to lead, but Edmonton scored the scoreboard in the third stage with Ryan McLeod’s goal. AVS responded with a goal from JT Comppher before getting an empty grid from Mikko Rantanen to win the game 4-2 and took the shackles in the series.

The oiler didn’t want to fold the tent, and the fourth game at Rogers Square turned out to be wild. In the third stage, the Oilers led 4-2, jumping to the top 5-4 with a 5-4 record before Colorado scored three goals at 5:49.

Oilers forward Zack Kassian scored 16:38 to make it 5-5, temporarily keeping Edmonton’s season alive – at least once again. Many fans didn’t even return to their seats when Colorado’s Artturi Lehkonen received just 79 seconds in overtime to provide an avalanche sweep.

2024 Stanley Cup Finals vs. Panthers

After returning to the championship series for the first time in 18 years, the Oilers performed well in Games 1 and 2 of the 2024 Stanley Cup final, losing to the Florida Panthers 3-0 and 4-1 respectively at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.

Edmonton fans were completely deflated in Game 3 at Rogers Place, watching their team trail 4-1 after 40 minutes. The Oilers tried to assemble and scored twice in the third phase, and while they couldn’t find the equalizer, their late stage seemed to trigger some impact.

The Oilers fired all cylinders in Game 4 to beat Florida 8-1 in the playoff game since 1990 to record their biggest win. This is the first time in franchise history that Edmonton won Game 4 when he was trailing 3-0.

Edmonton then entered the sunrise and snatched a 5-3 game from the Panthers. Back at Rogers Place for Game 6, the Oilers won the victory with a 5-1 victory, making only 10 games^Th Teams in Stanley Cup playoff history are behind the series 3-0.

The Oilers could almost complete a miracle comeback, but simply failed to win their first title since 1990, losing their seventh game at the Amerant Bank Arena and deciding on the seventh game.

Edmonton’s current roster includes more than a dozen players who competed in the 2024 Stanley Cup final. Have oilers learned something from the experience that can be applied now? They certainly know that they don’t want to fall behind 3-0 again. This means the best performance in three games tonight (April 25) at Rogers Place.