Edmonton Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl says his club isn't losing its cool after the Florida Panthers dominated Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday to take a 2-1 series lead.
The contest was riddled with 140 penalty minutes, including 85 by the Oilers. Head coach Kris Knoblauch said postgame that Edmonton unraveled in the third period, and many wondered in the aftermath of the blowout if the Oilers are too rattled by Florida's physicality to bounce back in the series.
Draisaitl doesn't think so.
"I'm not going crazy. I don't know if anybody's going crazy," Draisaitl said Tuesday, per Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "It's an emotional time. It's two teams that want to win, two teams doing it their own way. But I don't think anybody is going crazy here. They're good at what they do. But, again, last night was the first night where it got out of hand a little bit."
Draisaitl added, "That's part of their DNA. That's what they do. I think there's spurts in the series where we've handled it really well."
The Panthers had 11 power plays in Game 3, and several players on both sides were handed misconducts as the score got out of hand in the third period.
Draisaitl was held without a point or shot in the 6-1 loss but still ranks second with 29 points in these playoffs.
Edmonton hadn't lost consecutive contests this postseason since the start of the first round. The Oilers are 18-2 in Games 4-7 over the past two seasons and will look to even the series Thursday.
