Oilers keep Stanley Cup dreams alive with 8-1 win over Panthers

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The Oilers stomped the door open a crack in their Stanley Cup final series with an 8-1 shellacking of the Florida Panthers on Saturday at Rogers Place.

Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists for Edmonton and established an NHL record for assists in the post-season with 32. The previous record was held by Wayne Gretzky, who had 31 in the 1988.

“It’s unbelievable,” Zach Hyman, the Oilers winger, said. “You think of Wayne Gretzky’s records as unattainable.”

McDavid now has 38 points in the playoffs, which is tied for the fifth-most in history.

“This ranks very high on what I have seen from him because of what was at stake,” Kris Knoblauch, the Edmonton coach, said afterwards. “He just keeps on making plays and getting assists. It was a great performance.”

Seven different players scored for Edmonton, including McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had their first goals of the final round. Dylan Holloway scored twice and Stuart Skinner collected 32 saves while his counterpart for the Panthers, Sergei Bobrovsky, was yanked in the second period after giving up five goals on 16 shots.

As Bobrovsky left the ice he was taunted with a chorus of “Sergei, Sergei” from the hometown fans.

“He’d had enough,” Paul Maurice, the Panthers coach, said.

The Oilers are still in an unenviable position as they trail in the best-of-seven series 3-1. In 100-plus years, only one team — the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs — has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the Stanley Cup.

Florida, which joined the NHL in 1993, can claim its first championship on Tuesday when the series returns to Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, a western suburb of Fort Lauderdale. If a Game 6 is necessary, it will be played at Rogers Place on Friday.

Edmonton scored just once in the first two games but now has 11 in the last two. All but one has been scored by different players. Fifteen skaters found their way on to the Oilers’ scoresheet in Game 4.

As the Oilers romped, a supporter held up a sign that read, “So you’re saying there is a chance?”

The contest included a fight behind the Panthers net in the second period. Matthew Tkachuk punched McDavid in the head three times and then McDavid was yanked to the ice by Sam Bennett, but not before McDavid landed a punch on Bennet’s face. The two of them played mini-sticks together in the basement of the McDavid family home when they were young kids and were on the same teams as they grew up.

Tkachuk and Bennett were each assessed a roughing penalty, after which Nugent-Hopkins scored on the ensuing power play. It was Edmonton’s first power-play goal of the series.

The Oilers had not reached the final in 18 years and have not won a Stanley Cup since 1990. The last Canadian team to win one was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

Edmonton won each of two previous series over the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars after it fell behind.

On Thursday, Duncan Keith visited the Oilers’ dressing room to chat with players. In 2011 the former Edmonton defenceman was a member of the Chicago Blackhawks when they trailed 3-0 in the first round.

Chicago won the next three games only to lose in overtime to Vancouver in Game 7.

“I think the guys are very focused, optimistic and energized and excited for the challenge,” Knoblauch said early Saturday. “It is going to be a challenge but if there is a group of men that I want to do that with it is the guys in that room. I am really excited for the next ten days.

“You never know. When you have a good team and a lot of good players who believe, things can happen. But a lot of things have to work out. You have to get some bounces, have to make some plays and you need everybody to contribute. I think we can do that.”

During an availability with journalists, the Oilers also rolled out their Father Time, Corey Perry. The 39-year-old won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim in his second season in 2007 and has reached the final with a record five different teams.

Between the regular season and post-season combined he has played more than 1,500 games.

“You can’t look too far ahead,” Perry said. “If you look too far ahead it is a daunting task. You start with one period, one game and you work your way from there. That’s all we can do.”

The Oilers jumped on top early on a short-handed goal by Mattias Janmark, who deflected a shot by Connor Brown back-handed past Bobrovsky. Janmark is the first Edmonton player in 27 years to have two-short-handed goals in the playoffs.

Janmark then got his second point of the period when he threw a puck at the net from the corner and it was tipped in by Adam Henrique to make it 2-0 with 12:20 to go in the first.

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Florida cut the lead to 2-1 when Vladimir Tarasenko tipped in a shot a little less than four minutes later, but Holloway increased the margin to 3-1 with 5:13 remaining before the first intermission.

The wheels really came off for Florida over the next 20 minutes.

McDavid broke loose and scored off a nice pass from Zach Hyman a little more than a minute into the second period. Then Darnell Nurse found the back of the net for the first time in 22 post-season games. His cousin, Sarah Nurse, the PWHL and Team Canada star, pounded on the glass as she celebrated.

Nugent-Hopkins added his goal and then Ryan McLeod and Holloway scored in the third.

The game was sloppy but the outcome was never in question. It was a definitive victory for the Oilers but to win the Stanley Cup they will have to complete a reverse sweep after nearly being swept.

McDavid entered the match-up with 19 points in eight games following a loss in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He now has 23 in nine and leads all players with 37 points in 22 games.

They’ll need more from him but at least now they have a foot in the door.

“It doesn’t matter if you win 8-1 or 1-0,” McDavid said. “It’s still just one. We have to go to Florida and do our job and drag the series back to Edmonton.”

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