In Edmonton, the visiting Florida Panthers scored on the first three shots they took in the second period to break a scoreless tie with the Oilers.
Aaron Ekblad, Brian Boyle and Noel Acciari were the second period strikers for the Panthers.
“It was a heck of a game in a lot of ways,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. “I thought we had good offensive-zone time, I thought we made a lot of nice plays; good individual plays on the goals. Certainly [Bobrovsky] made some key big saves early in the game.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves to backstop the Panthers to 4-0-4 record over their last eight games.
“I think my defense made my job easier. They kept them to the outside and they didn’t give them the middle. I think the whole team played really well, and it’s a good win for us,” Bobrovsky said.
Leon Draisaitl and James Neal scored almost so-what goals for the Oilers.
“It’s frustrating and a little disappointing, we got outcompeted and we didn’t have the execution. We didn’t execute near to the level Florida did and we were chasing the whole game tonight,” Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. “Our goaltending has been very good, and tonight was average. But we didn’t give our goaltenders much of a chance.”
Evgenii Dadonov, Frank Vatrano and Jayce Hawryluk scored in the third period as the Oilers never got closer than 4-2 in the 6-2 decision.
“It feels great. Scoring is fun,” Boyle said. “That was a cool goal, because we had a huge block right before then by Jayce and [Brett Connolly] won three or four battles just to get an opportunity for me, so that was some good momentum for our line.”
[WATCH: All Panthers vs. Oilers Highlights]
Mike Smith got the start and was pulled early in the middle frame after the three-goal barrage.
“We didn’t support each other, lazy plays up the wall, forwards not backtracking, it starts with our line, it starts with me,” Draisaitl said. “We lost the game there. I think today the start wasn’t good, the last seven minutes of the first period we got our legs under us and the start of the second was just not good enough, so we have to fix it.”
Mikko Koskinen came into the game with less than three minutes gone in the second made 13 saves.
“They played the way we would have liked to play this game. They were stronger, they won more pucks, they got more pucks to the net and they outbattled us,” Oscar Klefbom said. “We have to learn from this and focus on the next game. We’re still off to a good start and we want to have that positive energy going in the group, but we still have to learn from this.”
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