Back in the building where their season ended last June, the Edmonton Oilers wasted no time rewriting the script.
Jack Roslovic scored twice in the opening period, Evan Bouchard dished out three assists, and the Oilers powered past the short-handed Florida Panthers 6-3 on Saturday night in a clash between the teams that battled for the Stanley Cup in each of the last two seasons. Connor McDavid and rookie Matt Savoie added empty-netters to seal Edmonton’s victory, snapping a three-game winless slide and capping their seven-game road trip at 3-3-1.
It was just Edmonton’s second regulation road win of the season, a badly needed boost for a group that entered the night 4-8-3 away from home, with three of those wins coming beyond regulation.
The tone was set almost immediately. Just 25 seconds into the game, Roslovic floated a soft puck toward Sergei Bobrovsky that somehow slid through the goaltender’s pads for a 1-0 lead. After Anton Lundell tied the game midway through the first, Roslovic needed only 36 seconds to restore Edmonton’s lead, finishing a quick response that put the Oilers ahead for good.
Mattias Ekholm also scored in the first period, pushing Edmonton to a 3-1 edge after 20 minutes.
Florida’s lineup hardly resembled the group that lifted the Cup just months earlier. Of the 18 skaters who dressed in Game 6 of the Cup Final, only 10 were available Saturday. Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Dmitry Kulikov, Eetu Luostarinen, Jonah Gadjovich and Tomas Nosek all remained out with injuries, while Aaron Ekblad — expected back Monday — was scratched due to illness.
The attrition showed early. Bobrovsky was pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots, the last coming on a sharp-angle strike by Vasily Podkolzin that stretched the Oilers’ lead to 4-1 midway through the second.
Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Reinhart added second-period goals for Florida, cutting the deficit to 4-3, but that was as close as the Panthers would get.
Edmonton steadied in the third behind Stuart Skinner, who stopped 35 shots in one of his sharper outings of the season. Florida pushed hard throughout the final frame, but the Oilers blocked lanes, protected the slot, and capitalized late.
A turnover led to McDavid’s empty-netter with just under two minutes left, and Savoie added another long-range finish to cap the night.
The Oilers left Sunrise with more than just two points—they left with a sense of balance. A grueling, inconsistent seven-game road stretch ended on a high, and beating the two-time defending champions in their own building was a statement, even against a depleted lineup.
Oilers: Host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Panthers: Visit the Nashville Predators on Monday.