Pulled with 16:33 left in the third, Skinner had surrendered five goals on just 23 shots—his Stanley Cup Final save percentage diving to .866, and goals-against average jumping to 3.74. Game 3 turned into a penalty-laden nightmare for Stuart Skinner, and yet he didn’t hide behind excuses. “To be honest, some were chaotic, some were really nice shots… But as a goalie, you’ve got to come up with a save. It doesn’t matter. It’s a game of inches. I don’t like letting open shots in, so I take accountability on those,” he said in the post-game coverage.  

Right from puck drop, the Panthers smelled blood. At just 56 seconds in, Brad Marchand lit the lamp on a shorthanded breakaway. The Oilers were already in penalty trouble: by the midpoint of the first they’d committed four minors, including a bench-too-many-men call, handing Florida prime power-play chances, spaces where the Panthers struck again with Verhaeghe’s tally at 17:45. A total of six Florida players eventually found their names on the scoresheet, turning steady pressure and special teams dominance into an insurmountable lead.

Skinner described the game where the Oilers “ended up playing what Florida wanted… just a little bit of a track-meet, a little bit of grinding, lots of penalties”. And the stats tell the same story: Edmonton racked up an astonishing 85 penalty minutes, allowing the Panthers to convert three power-play goals on 11 opportunities, while Edmonton managed just one on six. But Skinner still wasn’t the lone culprit; when asked about the “penalty chaos,” Connor McDavid didn’t mince words in the post-game interview as he stepped in to redirect the narrative. 

After the 6-1 Game 3 rout. He opened his media availability with a shrug of exasperation: “Yeah, it was a weird game. Obviously when you start in the first with four penalties, almost half the period you’re killing — so, not a good way to get into your game.” The Oilers handed Florida nearly eight full minutes of man-advantage time in the first period alone, including a costly too-many-men call at 10:09. The Panthers made Edmonton pay: Brad Marchand buried a shorthanded goal just 56 seconds in, and Carter Verhaeghe doubled the lead at 17:45 on a power play.

Still, McDavid didn’t throw his goaltender under the bus. Addressing Skinner’s night,  5 goals allowed on 23 shots before being pulled, he said: “I don’t know about that, you know. Can we be better on the first one? Maybe just a little bit of a scramble — they get it, we don’t. Sure, we can be better, harder in front of him there.” Skinner had been particularly exposed on Sam Bennett’s goal, which beat him short side amid heavy traffic.

McDavid ended by drawing attention to the team’s penalty kill breakdowns — and why it wasn’t all on the man in net. “The penalty kill — they’ve got some good players, good shooters. You give them that much time, they’re going to make their shot. So I don’t know how much we’re going to put on Stu, but, you know, that’s honorable of him I guess, to try to do that. But yeah, we can be better for sure.”

It was one of the clearest takes of the night: accountability without blame-shifting, and an honest acknowledgment that until the Oilers clean up their discipline and get back to their identity, the Panthers are going to keep punishing them. Because if Florida’s goals won the game on the scoreboard, it was Edmonton’s inability to stay disciplined, in structure, and mindset that truly sealed the collapse.

McDavid Admits: “We Got Away From Our Game”

The Oilers didn’t just lose Game 3 — they lost their grip. Connor McDavid acknowledged it plainly: “Yeah, weird game. I thought a lot of power play and penalty kill either way… never got to our game.” And it showed. Edmonton was outshot 24–16 through the first two periods and struggled to establish any meaningful possession. “Obviously it wasn’t our best — not our best at all,” he added. “I don’t think our best has shown up all series long. But it’s coming. You know, shift the focus to finding a way to get a win in Game 4.”

What stood out most, though, was how honest McDavid was about the unraveling: “I thought we got away from our game. Part of that’s in due to chasing it a little bit. Part of that is, obviously, credit to them — they played well. You find yourself in a hole, you’re going to do some uncharacteristic things.” And those things piled up fast. After Reinhart and Bennett pushed the lead to 4–1, Edmonton’s response wasn’t strategic—it was emotional. The Oilers finished with 85 penalty minutes, including 16 in the third period alone, many of them misconducts that signaled not just frustration, but a team coming undone.

This wasn’t just about systems breaking down. It was about a contender losing its emotional anchor mid-series — something McDavid seemed to recognize in real time. His comments weren’t excuses; they were a mirror. Now, with Game 4 looming, the Oilers aren’t just chasing the Panthers. They’re chasing a version of themselves that hasn’t yet shown up.