They were betting against them when the Vancouver Canucks had a 3-2 series lead in the second round.

And they were betting against them in the third round when the Dallas Stars had them down 2-1 in the series and 2-0 in Game 4.

So forgive the Oilers if they don’t accept the generous funeral wreaths being delivered in the sobering wake of 3-0 and 4-1 defeats to open, and perhaps close, the Stanley Cup Final.

They’d like everyone to know that they don’t die easily.

“We’re good with our backs against the wall,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, his 97 pressed firmly against the cold concrete after the troubling results at Amerant Bank Arena.

The brave faces help. And until the Panthers win a game on Rogers Place ice it’s too early to stick a fork in Edmonton’s season. But it does look kind of bleak, both visually and statistically.

The eye test Monday night was not good. The Oilers got it handed to them. Florida won the puck battles, choked out Edmonton’s offence and power play (not to mention Evan Bouchard) and posted another three-goal spread against a team whose previous six playoff losses consisted of four one-goal games and a pair of two-goal games with an empty-netter.

The battle between the best defensive team in the NHL and one of the most potent offences and power plays in the NHL hasn’t been close. Edmonton has one goal in six periods and their power play is 0-7.

Only three Oilers forwards even managed a shot on net over 60 uphill minutes in Game 2.

As bad as it looked on the ice, the math is even worse. Only five times in NHL history (in 54 tries) has a team ever come back from 2-0 down to win a Stanley Cup Final. That’s nine per cent.