The Edmonton Oilers walked into Sunrise expecting a battle, but their Stanley Cup Final rematch with the Florida Panthers turned into something closer to a street fight. Edmonton emerged with a massive regulation win, closing out their seven-game road trip with attitude, pushback, and a whole lot of attitude in a game that offered a bit of retribution.
Jack Roslovic got things started early, putting a soft one past Sergei Bobrovsky for the 1–0 lead. Anton Lundell answered, but Roslovic buried his second just 36 seconds later after Evan Bouchard froze the entire rink with a shot fake before feathering a perfect pass. Roslovic now sits at 9-8-17 in 22 games, riding one of the hottest stretches on the team.
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Mattias Ekholm extended the lead on a late power play, and Vasily Podkolzin’s bad-angle snipe chased Bobrovsky from the game entirely.
Edmonton looked in full control at 4–1, but Florida stormed back with two in the second, outworking the Oilers and threatening another ending where the Oilers let one slip away.
Things Got Physical And The Oilers Got Two Empty-Netters
The real turning point? The willingness of the Oilers to stay in the fight. There were scrums, shoves, facewashes—and even an MMA-style slam throughout the game. Instead of backing down, the Oilers pushed right back, matching Florida’s intensity shift for shift.
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Edmonton didn’t fold when the Panthers made a goalie switch, and Daniil Tarasov came in and played outstanding hockey. Florida pushed in the second period, and they outplayed Edmonton in the middle frame. Tarasov didn’t allow a goal, so the Oilers had to score twice when the Panthers pulled him in an attempt to tie the game.
This was a tired Oilers group that had traveled on one of the most trying road trips of the season. Getting three points out of a final four has to be seen as a win.
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Notable Performances:
Stuart Skinner quietly delivered one of his steadier nights, stopping 35 shots and holding off a desperate Florida push. The goals against were not a result of his making mistakes. Anton Lundell jammed home a puck in the crease, and Darnell Nurse lost sight of his man in the crease. The other two goals were one-timers that would have been difficult for Skinner to stop. He noted
Jack Roslovic continues to impress. The thought was that he might drop off with his play and his production would decline, but that hasn’t happened. Offensively, he looks confident and he’s providing the kind of depth scoring the Oilers have need for some time. He’s got nine goals since joining the team. “This game was a good momentum builder,” said Roslovic after the game.
Connor Clattenburg didn’t look out of place in his first NHL game. He was looking for action, but didn’t get any takers. Hey may not stay in the NHL for long, but there is a lot to like about this player.
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Matt Savoie looks like he’s coming along. He was hard on the puck, smart defensively, and got rewarded with one of the last two goals.
Evan Bouchard had three points, played big minutes, and made some nice plays on two goals. Ekholm and Bouchard played well together.
The Oilers pulled out a big win over the Panthers. Photo by © Sam Navarro Imagn Images
The Panthers pulled the goalie twice, but Connor McDavid and Matt Savoie sealed it with a pair of empty-netters. The Oilers haven’t always been known for capitalizing on the empty-net situations. They did twice.
The Oilers showed something important: they can handle the nastiness in a Stanley Cup rematch with a team they wanted to beat, and they can finish off a difficult road trip and feel better about their game as things start to get a little easier for them.
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As the team inches toward its 30-game evaluation point, this was the kind of win that makes the front office think twice about tinkering too much. “The fact we came out .500, we should be pleased. There were some games that got away from us… a little bitter for us. Overall, I like where our guys are going.”
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