Larsson, Koskinen help Oilers defeat Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Adam Larsson scored his first goal in almost a year, and Mikko Koskinen made 33 saves for the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-1 win against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center on Saturday.

Leon Draisaitl extended his NHL scoring lead with a goal and an assist for the Oilers (31-21-6), who are 11-4-2 in their past 17 games. Draisaitl has 92 points (33 goals, 59 assists) this season.
"He's confident," Larsson said of Draisaitl. "He's extremely good defensively too. He has that and he's showing it lately. I think he is probably one of the best two-way players when he's on his game."
WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Panthers highlights]
Sam Montembeault made 25 saves, and Jonathan Huberdeau scored for the Panthers (30-22-6), who are 2-6-1 since entering the All-Star break on a six-game winning streak. The Panthers have scored one goal twice and were shut out twice since the break.
"We certainly lost all gravy going into the break and now we're chasing it," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. "There's still an opportunity -- a real good one -- in front of us. Coming up with a game like today with going five on the road was certainly not the way you wanted to show how much we want to get in that fight."

Koskinen was making his first start since a 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 6.
"[Koskinen] made huge saves at some huge times," Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse said. "Obviously both our goaltenders (Mike Smith) each and every night, it seems like when they're asked to step up, they step up, and [Koskinen] was huge for us tonight."
Larsson scored at 15:14 of the first period with a slap shot from the point to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. It was his first goal since Feb. 19, 2019, when he scored against the Arizona Coyotes.
"It was really good, really good," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "Nice to see. He was all smiles, said that's his one for the year and he's all done."
Draisaitl made it 2-0 13 seconds into the third period. He has four goals and five assists in the past four games. Huberdeau made it 2-1 at 8:45.

"We didn't generate much," Quenneville said. "We're sometimes looking for a better play when just shooting the puck on the net could have generated something or the net presence or getting inside a little more. We didn't generate enough. We didn't have enough guys going. We didn't have the possession game enough and too easy to play against."
Nurse scored an empty-net goal at 18:02 to make it 3-1, and Tyler Yamamoto scored an empty-net goal at 19:14 for the 4-1 final. Yamamoto had two assists for his first three-point game in 43 NHL games.
Edmonton has won two of three games without center Connor McDavid, who's out with a quad injury. Edmonton was also without forward Zack Kassian, who was serving the first of a seven-game suspension for kicking Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak in a 3-1 loss Thursday.
"Our focus has been work ethic and compete and winning our battles, and we did that tonight," Nurse said. "That needs to continue as long as these guys are out."

They said it

"He's been a horse, especially as of late. You could just kind of see it coming. For him, he comes in each and every day, works his tail off, and for us, it's fun to see him when he's out there feeling the puck like that, battling hard. He's a true leader." -- Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse on Adam Larsson
"Before the All-Star break, we had fun and played for each other. We battled for each other and worked hard. Now it feels like we're not first to the pucks and all the little things we need to get better at." -- Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov

Need to know

Draisaitl scored his 10th game-winning goal of the season, the most for an Edmonton player since 1986-87, when Jari Kurri scored 10. ... Forward Tyler Benson replaced Kassian in the Edmonton lineup and was plus-1 with two blocks playing 12:46 in his third NHL game. ... Larsson has 21 goals in 534 NHL games.

What's next

Oilers: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday (4 p.m. ET; FS-CR, SNW, NHL.TV)
Panthers: At the San Jose Sharks on Monday (4 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-F, NHL.TV)