Edmonton Oilers' quest for Cup falls short again, what happens now?
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We know the vagaries of this two-month tournament but how can this be? How did Edmonton become The City of Slumped Shoulders and Florida become the State of Hockey, first with the Tampa Bay Lightning, now with the Panthers? Four Cups.
The way the Panthers went about their work in this series, scoring early and often and making the Oilers chase, seemed on a continuing loop. They were way better in this Final, even if it went six and could be back again next spring because the Maple Leafs who gave Florida their biggest playoff scare, are losing Mitch Marner. Tampa is getting old, Carolina can't get past the third round, no matter what and Washington can't score enough.
The Oilers? They rolled over Vegas and Dallas but were basically infield practice for Florida after the first two games that went to overtime.
'A well-oiled machine and I'm talking Florida,' said Wayne Gretzky, one of TNT's between periods commentators.
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