Panthers Sweep Oilers

     The Florida Panthers handled the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 at Rogers Place on Saturday night. The Panthers ended a two-game losing streak. The Oilers have lost two straight contests following an eight-game winning streak. 

     Florida(18-10-2) stepped in front 1-0 at the 5:33 mark of the opening period. Oliver Ekman-Larsson passed the puck from the right point to Sam Bennett on the end wall. He skated to the right goal line and sent a cross-ice pass. Carter Verhaeghe got his 14th goal of the season on a wrist shot from top of the crease by Calvin Pickard. It was the Panthers first goal in the past three games. 

     The Cats compiled two goals in a 29-second span late in the frame. They increased it to 2-0 with 1:02 to go in the first. Bennet cycled the puck from the left wing to Verhaeghe behind the Oilers net. He angled a pass from the right corner and Brandon Montour scored his first tally of the year with a snap shot from the low slot. 

     It became 3-0 for the Panthers with 32.1 seconds to go in the period. Evan Rodrigues stole the puck from Evan Bouchard in the right corner. He passed it to Ekman-Larsson on the right point and his shot was saved. Aleksander Barkov flipped a backhand shot from the right of the crease for his 11th goal this season. 

     Edmonton(13-14-1) closed it to 3-1 at 8:08 of the second period. Connor McDavid backhanded a pass from the top left circle to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the high slot. His touch pass went to the right and Zach Hyman shoveled a backhand shot at the top of the crease past Sergei Bobrovsky for his 18th goal of the campaign. 

     Florida made it a three-goal margin again with 3:59 remaining in the second on a power-play goal. Bobrovsky handed it off to Montour behind the cage and he carried it to the neutral zone. Montour made a left-outlet pass to Bennett. He skated down the left side, through the left circle and slid a backhand shot from the crease area for his second tally of the contest and fourth goal of the season.  It was Bennett's first three-point game since February. 

     The Panthers increased it to 5-1 just 21 seconds into the third period. Matthew Tkachuk connected a diagonal pass near the red line. Verhaeghe hustled down the right side into the Oilers zone and released a wrist shot from the right-circle dot for his second goal of the game and 15th goal during the 2023-24 season.