Panthers score three in third to knock off Oilers in Stanley Cup final rematch

EDMONTON — Niko Mikkola, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe all had a goal and an assist as the Florida Panthers rubbed salt in the wounds of the Edmonton Oilers, defeating them 6-5 in a wild affair on Monday in a rematch of the Stanley Cup finalists, won in Game 7 by the Panthers.

Jesper Boqvist, Matthew Tkachuk and Gustav Forsling also scored for the Panthers (19-11-2) who had been shutout in their two previous road games. Florida won despite star forward Aleksander Barkov missing his second consecutive game with an illness.

Zach Hyman replied with a pair for the Oilers (18-11-2) who had a five-game winning streak snapped. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist and Kasperi Kapanen and Connor Brown also scored for Edmonton. Captain Connor McDavid led the way with three assists.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 stops in net for the Panthers, while Stuart Skinner recorded 22 saves for the Oilers.

TAKEAWAYS

Panthers: Florida got a huge short-handed goal just 2:42 into the first period as Boqvist stole a puck from a stumbling Evan Bouchard and went in on the breakaway before sending his fifth of the season through Skinner’s legs. It was only Florida’s second goal in 214 minutes of game play, including their shutouts in the two previous games entering the contest. Florida leads the NHL with eight short-handed goals.

Oilers: Already named the NHL’s first star of the week on Monday, Draisaitl continued his impressive play of late with his sixth straight multi-point game, recording 15 points in that span. Draisaitl has had multi-point performances in eight of his last 12 games for a total of 17 multi-point games this season. Sixteen of those have come in his last 23 outings. Draisaitl currently leads the league in goals (23), even-strength goals (18), and game-winning goals (seven). His second period goal was the 200th of his career that McDavid has earned an assist on.

KEY MOMENT

The Panthers tied the game seven minutes into the third period during a sloppy sequence that saw defender Bouchard cough up the puck before Anton Lundell fed it across to Mikkola, who snapped in his third. Florida then regained the lead just 30 seconds later as Reinhart took a shot from a bad angle that deflected off of Skinner’s shoulder and into the net. It was Reinhart’s 20th of the season.

HYMAN HIGHS AND LOWS

Hyman now has seven goals in his last six games after returning from injury and has 10 on the season. Hyman had a career year last season with 54 goals, but had a slow start to the current campaign before catching fire of late. Unfortunately, Hyman took a puck to the face after a Bouchard power-play blast deflected off of a Panther and was quick to go to the dressing room pouring blood. He did, however, return for the third period wearing a full face shield.

UP NEXT

Panthers: Visit the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.

Oilers: Host the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2024.