SUNRISE, Fla. – The Edmonton Oilers have repeatedly spoken of their ability to overcome adversity, most notably their terrible start to the season and winning their last two playoff series after falling behind.

Well, they’re about to be tested now.

The Oilers return to Edmonton after their second straight loss to the Florida Panthers, this time 4-1 on Monday, and with Darnell Nurse out sick making matters worse.

“It’s not the best situation,” Leon Draisaitl said. “We need to find our game and be better.”

Teams down 2-0 have won the Stanley Cup Final just five times in 54 attempts. The last time there was a comeback of this kind was in 2011 when Boston defeated Vancouver.

The oil workers certainly have their work cut out for them.

“It’s another opportunity for our group to come together and work our way out,” Connor McDavid said. “It’s supposed to be tough, it’s supposed to be tough, and I’m excited to see what our group is made of.

“I’m excited to see our group come together, I’m excited to see us fight through adversity, and I’m looking forward to people doubting us again with our backs against the wall.”

There wasn’t enough of that fight that McDavid mentioned Monday.

The Oilers forced the issue for most of Game 1 but was blocked by Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. The same cannot be said for the second game. The territorial advantage they enjoyed has been completely dissipated.

“They’re a good team. They’ve won two games at home — maybe one where we were there,” winger Zach Hyman said. “This one, they deserve it.”

The Oilers scored on their first shot when Mattias Ekholm came down the wing and beat Bobrovsky five-hole with both teams skating four-on-four. However, that opening shot didn’t come until 11:17 into the game.

They didn’t produce much from there and fired just seven shots on Bobrovsky over the first 40 minutes as part of 19 minutes in the game.

The Panthers controlled the game, getting an equalizer from Niko Mikkola in the second period and two goals from Ivan Rodriguez in the third period. Aaron Ekblad had the empty net.

“We didn’t put enough pucks in the net,” defenseman Evan Bouchard said.

“They played better than us,” Hyman said. “We weren’t playing fast enough. They controlled the game for most of the match.”

It looked as if the Oilers had run out of steam, which was fueled by the firings and injuries.

Warren Foegele, who was moved to right wing on the third line as part of a revamped attacking group, was ejected at 9:21 in the first period after Panthers center Eetu Luostarinen kneeled. Down to 11 forwards, the bottom six lines have been put into a blender and these players have largely seen their ice time reduced.

Evander Kane, who was dropped to the Foegele line in Game 2, was clearly working and only played 10:33. Now, the nurse can be added to the wounded who can walk.

Nurse took a hit from Rodriguez in the corner to the left of Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner and immediately grabbed his left thigh. He left the game at 8:23 of the first period. Although he returned in the second and played three more shifts, he was limited to 4:20 per game.

Nurse’s limited action meant that Knoblauch’s bold call to remove Cody Ceci in favor of Vincent Desharnais to skate next to Nurse didn’t really get any traction. Bouchard (30:40) and Ekholm (24:54) saw their workload increase.

“Obviously losing Darnell wasn’t ideal early on,” Bouchard said. “He’s a big part of the back end. We have to find a way to step up for him.”

Nurse was torn during the 2022 playoffs with a torn hip flexor. Knoblauch said he believes Nurse will be able to play in Game 3 on Thursday. It is difficult to imagine that a nurse would be anywhere near perfect health if she could be fit.

For all the things working against them, oil workers bear responsibility for their plight as well.

They are known for their offensive prowess, but their scoring ability has dried up so far as the Panthers are making things difficult starting with Bobrovsky. McDavid had an assist on Ekholm’s goal, his only point of the series. Draisaitl has yet to score.

“We can definitely be better,” Draisaitl said. “It starts with me. There’s certainly a lot to offer.”

Then there is the power play. The Oilers are 0-for-7 on the man advantage in the series. They have scored on just five of their last 28 opportunities after going 14-for-30 to start the playoffs.

“We’ve got to work our way out of this. It always starts with working with our group,” McDavid said. “They’re a unique penalty kill, just like they’re a unique team. They are aggressive.

“We’ve got to have guys ready to puck. We’ve got to have guys making good plays. We’ve got to put good plays together and we haven’t been able to do that.”

The odds dwindled to five-on-five in Game 2 after they produced so much in the series opener.

Add it all up and the Oilers have just one goal in 120 minutes in the series.

“You’re not going to win a lot of games (that way),” McDavid said, stating the obvious.

“You have to find a way to score,” Hyman said.

The old saying is that a series doesn’t really start until a team loses on home ice. Reality looks different here. Ken and Nurse, who are supposed to be the best players, being very tied up adds to the anxiety.

The Oilers squandered the opportunity to take the lead by losing the first game when they were the better team. They were outplayed in Game 2 due to a short bench and hampered skaters.

The circumstances are bleak, even if they are positive.

“We feel like we came here, and we played enough to get our share. That doesn’t always happen,” Knoblauch said. “I don’t see any reason to panic or do anything drastic.

“I don’t want to get too involved in saying: ‘We lost 2-0 and we are in a lot of problems.’ All we have to do is win the next game.”

As Knoblauch said, the Oilers aren’t out of the woods yet. But something has to change — and quickly — for them to get back to this and have any hope of bringing the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton for the first time since 1990.

They’re clearly down, but they don’t think they’re out. They have a lot of experience to draw on in this regard.

They have persevered through many tough tests this season. There is no doubt about it; This is the hardest yet.

“We’ve done it all year, but we just have to get better,” Draisaitl said. “It’s very simple. There’s not much to say about it.”

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)