Your Oilers just got humbled by the Panthers again

I'll tell you what, that 4-0 drubbing the Florida Panthers laid on the Edmonton Oilers last night felt…familiar. Not just because the Panthers have made it their personal mission to remind us of the two Stanley Cup finals we'd mostly managed to forget, but because there's a certain stoic resignation that settles over this city when the Oilers look, well, _lifeless_. It's like a mid-February chinook, when the brief warmth tricks you into thinking spring is here, and then it's -30 again by morning. You just sort of sigh, pull your toque down a little tighter, and remember that Edmonton doesn't need your approval. Never did.

Honestly though, it's not the losses that sting as much as the _manner_ of them. To see the boys out there, skating like they're still trying to clear the snow off the ice at the community rink out in Mill Woods after a particularly heavy dump, that's what gets you. It’s a collective shrug across the city, from the early risers at Remedy Cafe on the southside to the late-night crowd wandering off Whyte Avenue. We've seen the greatest hockey player to ever lace 'em up, right here in our barn. We know what magic looks like. And last night, it looked a whole lot like a Florida vacation, and not the good kind. It just makes you wonder if they're still feeling the ghost of those old Finals, like a persistent draft in an otherwise solid house.

Darren Fedoruk, MiTL Sports Desk.

You can hear more of this kind of long-suffering analysis from the morning crew — check them out at mornings.live.