How the Oilers eliminated the Panthers to avoid a Stanley Cup sweep

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EDMONTON — Two days after Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid channeled his inner Yogi Berra by asking fans to stick with the team because “it’s not over until it’s over “, Edmonton avoided elimination and a sweep of the Stanley Cup final on Saturday night by beating Florida. Panthers 8-1 in an electric Rogers Place.

McDavid scored his first goal of the series and added three assists to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record for assists in a single playoffs (32). Dylan Holloway added two goals for the Oilers, and Mattias Janmark, Adam Henrique, Darnell Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan McLeod scored the others. Stuart Skinner made 32 saves.

McDavid has 23 points in nine games after a playoff loss, surpassing Doug Gilmour’s 20 in 1993 for the most in a playoff year in NHL history.

He leads the league with 38 playoff points, which is the most playoff points among active players. Evgeni Malkin had 36 in 2009.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored for the Panthers, whose six-game winning streak is history. The loss came after families of players and staff traveled to Edmonton on Saturday in case there was a Stanley Cup celebration on enemy territory.

Instead, the Oilers became the fourth straight team to win Game 4 to extend a series after losing the first three games of a Stanley Cup Final. The others were the Montreal Canadiens in 2021, the New York Rangers in 2014 and the New Jersey Devils in 2012.

“It only counts as a win,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “It doesn’t matter how much you lose (by), 2-1 or 8-1, or if you win 2-1 or 8-1. … Obviously we have to bounce back and recover now and think about the next one.

Game 5 is in South Florida on Tuesday night.

Here are five takeaways from how the Oilers staged the blowout.

The Oilers finally crack Bob

After allowing four goals in the first three games of the series and maintaining a .953 save percentage in Game 4, Sergei Bobrovsky was chased from the net after his fifth goal allowed on 11 shots at 4:59 of the second period. Anthony Stolarz came on in relief for his playoff debut.

Florida’s worst playoff loss was a 5–1 Game 1 loss to the Boston Bruins in the second round, and it was also the last time Bobrovsky allowed three goals in a period. He allowed three on the first Saturday.

Bobrovsky lost his net on Janmark’s shorthanded goal for a 1-0 lead, had a Holloway shot under his pad and was beaten from distance by Nurse. This is the most goals Bobrovsky has allowed since Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

“Everyone is human,” Oilers winger Zach Hyman said. “You have to keep going, you have to keep getting your looks and eventually something will come in.” Obviously we looked good tonight and were able to beat him. We have to start again.

Janmark revives Oilers offense

On a team with so many impactful players, Janmark is pretty far down the list of offensive pillars. Yet there he was, with the Oilers’ season on the line, leading the charge.

Less than 25 seconds after Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart hit the post consecutively on the power play, Janmark opened the scoring at 3:11 by taking advantage of a shorthanded duet with his shorthanded partner Connor. Brown set him up. It wasn’t as pretty as when the two wingers connected in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals to score the first special teams goal of this series, but the result was the same. With the intervention, Janmark became the first Oiler to score two shorthanded goals in a single playoff series since Todd Marchant did it in 1997.

But he wasn’t finished. He centered the puck to Henrique in the slot for an easy goal just 4:37 later to give the Oilers a two-goal lead – their first of the series. Henrique’s goal proved to be the winner.

The Oilers had many strong offensive performances in Game 4, but Janmark got the ball rolling. Their season might not still be alive without him.

McDavid’s milestone

McDavid took control of the game in the second period and etched his name in the record books with it.

He had a hand in all three Oilers goals in the middle of the period, scoring one goal and adding two assists. The second of those assists gave him 31 assists in the playoffs, tying Gretzky’s record from the 1988 playoffs, which he later surpassed.

McDavid’s heroics in the second period put the game out of reach and increased the home team’s lead to 6-1.

He received a pass from Zach Hyman just inside the Panthers blue line and fired a shot from the blocker’s side at Bobrovsky 1:13 into the stanza. He then dropped a pass to Nurse, who passed first over the Panthers goalie just 3:46 later. His record assist came on Nugent-Hopkins’ two-man advantage goal at 13:03, and the record was set on Holloway’s second goal of the night.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Hyman said. “I don’t think many people think Wayne’s stats were achievable. It’s the Great One. I think Connor is putting together one of the best playoff series. He’s the guy who tramples on everyone. He took on this responsibility. Whenever our team’s back is against the wall, he is the first to fight back.

McDavid is considered the best player in the league and one of the greatest of all time for good reason. Saturday only improved his resume.

Big names from the Oilers join the party

Aside from McDavid, the Oilers’ top forwards have been unusually quiet through the first three games of the series. Leon Draisaitl, Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins were all useless – a big reason why the Oilers were in their gigantic hole.

Everything changed in Game 4.

Draisaitl had two assists – the first when he set up Holloway on a rush and the second when his one-timer on the power play set up a rebound goal.

Hyman didn’t add to his 14 playoff goals, but he tied Draisaitl in the assists category. He gave McDavid his first assist, then provided secondary support on Nurse’s first of the playoffs.

Nugent-Hopkins cleaned up the Draisaitl mess to make sure the Panthers were completely out of it.

The Oilers needed their big guns to make an impact in this series. McDavid had three assists and more than doubled his production in Game 4. His star teammates followed, which could bode well as the series returns to South Florida.

“It’s a victory,” Hyman said. “It’s a closer victory. The mentality is the same. The belief is the same. But it’s nice to do it and get a win and get past the goalie and show we can do it and put a little bit of doubt on the other side.

Tkachuk down and dirty

Leading the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final a year ago, it felt like all the great things came through Tkachuk. There were overtime goals, game-winners, big hits and constant threat.

But Tkachuk has yet to have a big moment in the playoffs.

He has one goal in the last 15 games, one assist in the last six games and he’s just missing any sort of flash right now. In this series, he scored no goals, one assist and 11 shots in four games.

In Game 4 on Saturday, frustration erupted in the second period when Tkachuk, the hated former Calgary Flames, grabbed McDavid and began throwing back-to-back undercuts. Once that was done, Sam Bennett entered the fray and threw a few low shots at McDavid, his former junior teammate.

Tkachuk and Bennett each got minors, and Nugent-Hopkins scored on a two-minute five-on-three for a 6-1 lead.

(Photo: Derek Leung/Getty Images)





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