EDMONTON, Alberta – Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers are not ready for the start of the offseason, and the Stanley Cup Final is coming back to Florida after they made that statement loud and clear.
McDavid scored his first goal of the series as part of a four-point performance, Stuart Skinner was spectacular in making 32 saves and the Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers 8-1 in Game 4 on Saturday night, chasing Sergei Bobrovsky and avoiding a scan. Game 5 is Tuesday at sunrise.
“We did our job on the offensive end today, but it’s just a win for us,” center Leon Draisaitl said. “We have to improve and continue to pick ourselves up.”
The Panthers’ party will have to wait after the total collapse of a team with many players who were never so close to lifting the Cup. Bobrovsky was part of that, getting suspended five minutes into the second period after allowing five goals on 16 shots — more than he gave up in the first three games of the series combined.
Whether it was a last-gasp effort in front of an enthusiastic crowd hoping to see the start of a historic comeback or the breakthrough coach Kris Knoblauch has foreshadowed, Skinner’s Oilers in net were dominant in every facet of the game they needed to win. to continue the NHL season.
It started with Mattias Janmark scoring 3:11 in a 2-on-1 race with Connor Brown. Janmark put Edmonton up by two goals less than five minutes later, setting up Adam Henrique for his second Cup final goal, 12 years after New Jersey’s victory, which also avoided a sweep in the final.
The odds remain high for the Oilers, as the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs are the only team to erase a 3-0 deficit at this stage of the playoffs and only four teams in total have ever done so.
But the belief will certainly be tangible after coming out offensively and building a lead rather than holding it to protect it, a quality they had in spades in the first three rounds to win the Western Conference. Florida’s one-goal deficit cut midway through the first period didn’t prompt Edmonton to give up, with Dylan Holloway responding with the first of his two goals before halftime and fans cheering for the home team coming off the ice.
The offense kept coming. McDavid, the reigning three-time NHL MVP, beat Bobrovsky early in the second and minutes later set up Darnell Nurse for the defenseman’s first goal of the playoffs. This sent the goalkeeper known as “Bob” to the bench amid derisive chants of “Sergei! Sergei! when Anthony Stolarz entered for his postseason debut.
The Panthers, hours after family members arrived for a possible celebration more than 2,500 miles from home, took out their frustrations in a handful of post-whistle brawls. One of them gave the Oilers more target practice, and the unit that reached the final looking almost automatic and started 0-for-12 made them pay with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scoring on a 5-on-3 lead.
McDavid, with three assists, now has 32 in this streak, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s 1988 record for most in a single postseason. He scored more points on Saturday night than in the first three games of the series combined and was the Oilers’ leading scorer while other key players were quiet.
At even strength and on the power play, another adjustment from Knoblauch paid off as the playoffs of Edmonton’s rookie coach pushing all the right buttons continued. He moved Nugent-Hopkins to play with Draisaitl, and each of the top two lines scored a big goal.
The explosion and a comfortable lead had fans going with everything from “We want seven!” to the tune of “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi. They did it when Holloway scored with less than six minutes left and a little more when Ryan McLeod added the exclamation point with his eighth goal with 3:19 on the clock.
Skinner also heard “STUUUU!” quite a lot, as he had his best game in the final, denying the Panthers several high-quality scoring chances as they tried to come back.
The confidence in the possibility of extending the series that was evident inside the home locker room spread throughout downtown Edmonton. A new sign saying “BELIEVE” was added to a window on the corner of Rogers Place on Saturday.
Inside, a fan held a sign saying, “So you’re saying there’s a chance?” And now the Oilers have another chance to put pressure on the Panthers as the series returns to South Florida.
