The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers 8-1 to claim Game 4 of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Final and remain alive after losing the series’ first three games.
Mattias Janmark opened the scoring for the Oilers in the first period with a shorthanded goal. He scored the fastest shorthanded opening goal in a Stanley Cup Final game in more than 40 years. It was the third-fastest tally in the Final since shorthanded goals were officially tracked in 1933-34, behind Marcel Pronovost (2:15 in 1955) and Lorne Henning (2:38 in 1980).
Janmark had clutch moments when his team faced elimination before; he scored a hat trick in Game 7 of the 2021 first round. At the time, he became just the eighth player in Stanley Cup Playoff history to record a hat trick in a Game 7. Until that point, he had yet to score one in the regular season.
The Oilers also got goals from Adam Henrique, Dylan Holloway, Darnell Nurse, Connor McDavid, and a power play goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Also, McDavid recorded his 32nd assist of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, beating the all-time record for most assists in a single playoff year. Wayne Gretzky previously held the record of 31 assists, which he set in the 1987-88 season.
Holloway also scored in the third period, and the Oilers got a goal from Ryan McLeod to finish the scoring in the rout.
For Henrique, it was his first goal in the Stanley Cup Final since 2012 (Game 6 with the New Jersey Devils) – 12 years and three days ago. He is the seventh player in NHL history to go at least a dozen years between goals in the Stanley Cup Final, following Eric Staal (16 years, 354 days; 2006-2023), Mark Recchi (15 years, 15 days; 1991-2006), Dino Ciccarelli (14 years, 31 days; 1981-1995), Corey Perry (13 years, 111 days; 2007-2020), Darren Helm (13 years, 14 days; 2009-2022) and Marcel Pronovost (12 years, 24 days; 1955-1967).
Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled after he allowed five goals on 16 shots. He was pulled after Nurse scored his first goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at 4:59 of the second period. The Oilers led 5-1 at the time.
Bobrovsky was replaced by Anthony Stolarz, who made his first appearance in an NHL playoff game and his first game action since he made 26 saves in a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 16.
Bobrovsky came into Game 4 with a 15-5 record, a 2.07 goals-against average, a .916 save percentage, and two shutouts in 20 postseason games. He had allowed four goals in the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final, and Game 1 was a 32-save shutout.
News and Notes
Edmonton came into the game with a three-game losing streak for the first time since a three-game stretch from Feb. 21-24. The Oilers followed up that losing skid by stringing together five straight wins from Feb. 26 to March 5. The last time Edmonton dropped three consecutive games in regulation was from Dec. 14-19 (including a 5-1 loss to Florida), from which they bounced back with a 16-game winning streak, which is tied for the second longest in NHL history.
Edmonton’s eight goals were the second most in a Final game when facing elimination during the Expansion Era behind only the Chicago Black Hawks in Game 5 of the 1973 Final (8-7 W).
Game 5 will be at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).
