Oilers wallop Panthers to prevent Cup Final sweep

Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the Stanley Cup Final and added three assists as the Edmonton Oilers denied the Florida Panthers a sweep with an 8-1 victory in Game 4 on Saturday.

Dylan Holloway scored twice and chipped in an assist for the victors. McDavid’s primary helper on Holloway’s second marker gave the Oilers captain an NHL-record 32nd assist in a single postseason, passing Wayne Gretzky. The Great One required only 19 games to collect 31 in 1987-88, while McDavid picked up his 32nd in his 22nd contest.

Mattias Janmark contributed a goal (his second shorthanded tally of the playoffs) and a helper. Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman notched a pair of assists apiece, while Adam Henrique, Ryan McLeod, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Darnell Nurse provided the other goals for Edmonton.

Nurse snapped one home early in the second period to give the Oilers a 5-1 lead and chase Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Florida backup netminder Anthony Stolarz relieved Bobrovsky, who gave up five goals on 16 shots. Stolarz turned aside 16 of the 19 he faced.

Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner permitted only one goal on 33 shots. Vladimir Tarasenko netted the lone marker for the Panthers.

Despite the lopsided victory, McDavid acknowledged his team still has plenty of work to do.

Oilers forward Connor Brown believes his squad’s at its best when the pressure’s on.

“I feel we’re most comfortable when our … backs (are) against the wall,” he said. “That’s kind of what we showed at the beginning of the year when we were dead last … we came out and had some historic runs. So I think we’re a unique club in that regard.”

Florida head coach Paul Maurice looked at the big picture after his team’s loss.

“We came into Edmonton to get a split, and we got it,” the Panthers bench boss said, according to team reporter Jameson Olive.

Maurice insisted his team wasn’t getting ahead of itself before Game 4.

“In general, things will be far more extreme outside your room than inside. So, at 3-0, we’re not sitting there getting the engravers out,” he said, per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. “We lost a game tonight. … There’s going to be a Game 5.”

The seven-goal difference is the largest margin of victory ever for a team facing elimination in the Cup Final. The Toronto Maple Leafs held the previous mark by virtue of their 9-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 of the 1942 series. The Leafs won the next two games to become the first and only team to rally from a 3-0 series deficit to win the Cup.

Game 5 of this Cup Final is scheduled for Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET in Sunrise.

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