Stuart Skinner made 40 saves as the Edmonton Oilers picked up a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers Saturday afternoon.
“Stuart stood tall for us and that first period allowed us to get our sea legs,” head coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game. “I thought we had good chances on their goaltender too, he made a lot of really good saves as well. And then it was a tight checking play here, play there that was going to decide the game and it’s a credit to our people because we stuck with it for the full 60 minutes, it was nice to see.”
The Oilers, who finished their road trip at 2-2, have won twelve of their last 13 road games against the Panthers.
The Panthers had a big edge early, recording the game’s first eleven shots on goal but Stuart Skinner held strong in the Oilers goal. Florida goalie Spencer Knight answered later in the first with a great save on a Leon Draisaitl power play one-timer.
“Tonight, we didn’t win the first period, after that I thought we did.” Draisaitl said. “We did play a solid game.”
Tyson Barrie fired a point shot past a screened Knight to give the Oilers the lead with 8:11 left in the second period. Mattias Janmark drew an assist on the play for his first point as an Oiler.
Sam Reinhart put the Panthers on the board with a power play goal early in the third. Barrie came back with a big blast on a man advantage to make it 2-1 Edmonton with 13:07 to go. Warren Foegele stole the puck from Aleksander Barkov, then took a pass from Draisaitl to give the Oilers a two-goal bulge. Bennett came back just 51 seconds later, cutting in front and beating Skinner with 4:02 left. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins put it away with an empty netter.
“It’s a great division over here,” Skinner said. “Obviously we had some tough games, some tough travel, and I thought we did a great job. Obviously, a couple of tough bounces in the previous game and the games that we lost. But being able to come out here with a win on the last game of the road trip is massive for the group.”
The Oilers, 9-7, will host L.A. on Wednesday (630 CHED, Face-off Show 6 p.m., game at 8 p.m.).
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