Oilers and their stars gain momentum, extend Stanley Cup Final against Panthers

Whatever the Edmonton Oilers changed before the third period in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, it’s working.

Edmonton scored two goals in the final period of what ended up being a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday. However, the offensive momentum seemed to carry over to Game 4 on Saturday, resulting in an 8-1 drubbing that extended the series to a fifth game and a trip back to Sunrise.

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch has been emphatic all series that the Oilers were getting good chances in front of the net, and that the team just needed a bit of “puck luck” to break through the wall that has been Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. The five goals on 16 shots that forced Bobrovsky to be pulled for Anthony Stolarz fit the description.

“I think even when we were down three games to zero, our team felt confident about how we played,” Knoblauch said Sunday morning.

But luck doesn’t account for regaining production from Edmonton’s key offensive players. Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the series Saturday with three assists to boot. Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman both had a pair of assists after neither had scored a point in the series. But Knoblauch said the team can win even without its best players at their best.

“I think we’ve been able to win in multiple ways,” he said. “I can’t say that we need our top guys to perform and come up big.”

Still, it can’t hurt the Oilers to see a return to form from their stars. McDavid said the scoring outburst was what his team needed.

“We felt like it was gonna break,” McDavid said after Game 3. “We felt like we were going to find a way to score some goals, and we did tonight. We gotta repeat it.”

Although in higher spirits, the Oilers still face the reality of a 3-1 series deficit and a Game 5 on the road on Tuesday. But McDavid says the team doesn’t feel any pressure given the circumstances.

“There’s nothing to panic about,” he said. “We’re still in a hole. There’s no pressure on us.”

Edmonton is familiar with digging itself out of holes. Knoblauch was hired midseason when the team was just 3-9-1. He later led the team on a 16-game winning streak — one short of the longest in NHL history — which incidentally came after three straight losses.

Now, the Oilers have their sights on stealing Game 5 on the Panthers’ home ice and bringing the series back to Edmonton. They’ve played in two Game 5s away from home this postseason: A 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks and a 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars. Both series were tied heading into those games. While it won’t be easy against Florida, it is possible, and of course necessary.

“We’ve got to go to Florida and do a job and drag them back to Alberta,” McDavid said.