The Florida Panthers played a rare afternoon game at home and fell to the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Saturday at BB&T Center. The Panthers are 2-6-1 in their nine games since the All-Star Game break. Next up for the Panthers will be a long five-game road trip out west over the next two weeks. They return home on February 27 versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Oilers won in South Florida for the 10th time in their last 11 occasions. Former Panther Riley Sheahan played in his 500th NHL contest.
Edmonton(31-21-6) was able to go ahead 1-0 with 4:46 remaining in the first period. Kailer Yamamoto cycled the puck from the end wall to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the right wing. Adam Larsson blasted a slap shot from the right point past Sam Montembeault for his first goal of the year. Larsson last scored a goal against the Arizona Coyotes 58 games ago.
After a scoreless second period, the Oilers got a tally 13 seconds into the third. Leon Draisaitl won a faceoff in the left circle and Nugent-Hopkins put a forehand shot on net from the slot area that went off Yamamoto in the low slot. Draisaitl snapped a shot from the top of the crease for his 33rd goal and NHL-leading 91st point of the season.
Florida(30-22-6) made it 2-1 at the 8:45 mark of the period. Aleksander Barkov took a shot from the left circle that was saved. Aaron Ekblad got the puck in the right wing, carried it to the low right circle and fed it around the net. Jonathan Huberdeau released a wrist shot from the left goal line that squeezed by Mikko Koskinen for his 21st goal of the campaign. Barkov passed Stephen Weiss for second place in Florida Panthers franchise history with his 250th career assist.
The Panthers pulled their goalie with 2:30 left in the final frame and it did not work. Darnell Nurse whipped the puck from his own left corner into an empty net with 1:58 remaining. Yamamoto added an empty-net goal with 45.5 seconds to go.
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