First period
5:12
Leon Draisaitl has his first point of the series. The German forward assisted Dylan Holloway who just got the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky to give Edmonton the 3-1 lead.
8:34
The Panthers get one back. The Oilers struggled to get the puck out of the defensive zone and Florida made them pay when Vladimir Tarasenko redirected a shot from Gustav Forsling and got past Stuart Skinner for the 2-1.
Moments later, Skinner made a huge save on Carter Verhaeghe.
12:12
The third line is rolling for the Oilers. After scoring the first goal, Janmark assisted Adam Henrique for the 2-0 lead.
16:49
The Oilers lead 1-0 after Mattias Janmark scored a short-handed goal. Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse got two minutes for tripping Sam Bennett and the Panthers hit the post twice in one play before Connor Brown went the other way and assisted Janmark.
Pre-game
Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers is set to begin at Rogers Place.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch made some changes at the top of the lineup. Warren Foegele is in the top line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins moves to the second line with Leon Draisaitl and Dylan Holloway.
Game preview
The Edmonton Oilers aren’t looking too far ahead.
Down 3-0 to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers are focused on winning Game 4 at home on Saturday night to live another day.
“If you look too far ahead it’s a daunting task,” veteran forward Corey Perry told reporters Saturday morning. “They’re a great team, we know that. But you start with one period, one game and work your way from there. That’s all we can do.”
The Oilers have played well enough to win Games 1 and 3 but goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has been nearly impossible to get past.
“We found some puck luck [at the end of Game 3], not enough, but I think it’s a start and that’s what we have to build on,” Perry said.
“In our mind we’ve thought we’ve played pretty well and we just need those bounces.”
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has also spoken about needing “puck luck” in Game 4.
But despite being down 3-0 and going up against a great goalie, he says the group remains confident and optimistic.
“If there’s a team that can do it, if there’s a group of men I want to do this with, it’s the guys in that room,” Knoblauch said.
“Hopefully Zach Hyman can write a storybook about this when it’s all said and done. I think it’s an excellent opportunity for us.”
The sentiment among Oilers players is that they play their best hockey when they face the most adversity.
Whether it’s a slow start to the season or being down in the series against Vancouver or Dallas, the players have talked about learning from those experiences and bringing their best when it matters most.
“I’m super confident in our group. I know we’re down 3-0 in the series but I think it could very well be different than that,” young forward Dylan Holloway said. “Our group’s resilient, our group’s been through a lot this year. I think we shine when the pressure’s most on us.”
Knoblauch did not reveal if there would be lineup changes for Game 4, but TSN’s Ryan Rishaug tweeted that he expects “basically the same lineup tonight.”