Connor McDavid tallied a goal and three assists as the Edmonton Oilers thrashed the Florida Panthers 8-1 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night at Rogers Place.
“It’s just one win, that’s all it is,” McDavid said after the game. “It doesn’t matter if you score eight or you score one, it’s just one win. We’ve got to go to Florida and do a job and drag them back to Alberta.”
Florida leads the best-of-seven 3-1.
The Panthers went on the power play less than two minutes into the game when Darnell Nurse received a five-minute penalty for kneeing Sam Reinhart. However, after video review, it was downgraded to a tripping minor.
During the power play, Matthew Tkachuk hit the crossbar from the high slot, and Reinhart struck the post on the rebound. The Oilers countered, with Connor Brown assisting Mattias Janmark for a shorthanded goal.
Less than five minutes later, Janmark surged down the left side and centred the puck to Adam Henrique, who scored his third goal of the postseason.
Still in the first period, Vladimir Tarasenko scored on a deflection to get the Panthers on the board. Less than a minute later, Carter Verhaeghe unleashed a one-timer on a two-on-one break, but Stuart Skinner made an impressive save with his left wrist.
Leon Draisaitl earned his first point of the series by passing the puck to Dylan Holloway, who then tucked a backhand past Sergei Bobrovsky for his fourth goal.
Over the years we’ve always come through, even with teams playing us tight,” Draisaitl said. “Obviously it feels good to put a couple goals on the board, but we just have to make sure we stay on it.”