GAME RECAP: Panthers 6, Oilers 0

EDMONTON, AB - Aleksander Barkov recorded a three-point performance while Sergei Bobrovsky shut the door with a 40-save effort as the Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-0 Thursday at Rogers Place.
The Orange & Blue led the shot department by a 40-28 margin and won 59 percent of the faceoffs but were ultimately overpowered in the special teams department, going 2-for-5 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the man advantage as the club's record dropped to 18-16-2 on the season and losing streak extended to seven games.

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FIRST BLOOD

Despite the Oilers dictating much of the pace in the first period and out-shooting Florida 17-7 through 20 minutes of play, Barkov struck first blood with a power-play marker at 5:28 of the second period.
While Colton Sceviour sat in the box for cross-checking, Florida's 17th-ranked man advantage got set up by snapping the puck around Edmonton's zone. The Panthers worked it down low to Reinhart on the goal-line and he sauced a pass over a sprawling Darnell Nurse tape-to-tape for Barkov, who snuck a short-side shot through Mikko Koskinen.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Grouping together for a late first-period shift, it didn't take long for Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Jesse Puljujarvi to get a crack at the net - only to be handcuffed by the acrobatics of Bobrovsky.
Draisaitl entered the zone then found a cross-ice seam to McDavid, who filtered the puck to Puljujarvi as he crashed the goalmouth. The Finn made a deft tip but Bobrovsky flared out to make an incredible desperation save and keep the game scoreless through 20 minutes.

TURNING POINT

Down by a single and with the Oilers looking to square things up in the middle period, Florida's Carter Verhaeghe added to the Panthers' lead with an insurance marker at 8:07 of the second.
After the visitors secured possession in the offensive zone by owning the boards and retrieving rebounds, Sam Reinhart found himself within the trapezoid behind Edmonton's net before dishing a feed to Verhaeghe within the left circle.
The centre swiftly lifted the puck upstairs on Koskinen to tally his 14th goal of the season while providing his squad with the two-goal advantage to enter the third frame.

PARTING WORDS

Duncan Keith on the outcome of the game after a strong first period:
"We had a good start and then they got the lead and then we were chasing it. No matter who you're playing or what game it is, it's always harder coming from behind. The way things are going right now, it's been tough.
"It's frustrating but at the end of the day, it's going to have to be us in there that have to pull together and find a way to stick in those games. Keep them close and find a way to tie that up or keep it a tighter game. I think a big thing would be trying to find a way to get that first goal to get a better feeling in the room. Just the way things are going right now, when we get down it's frustrating."
Darnell Nurse on the leadership group's response to the current slide:
"This is a true test of leadership. It's easy to be a leader when you're 9-1 or 16-5. It's easy to lead a team and go out and be the rah-rah guy. This right here, getting out of this is a test for all the leaders on the team. Getting out of this is what's going to make our team better. There's no excuse.
"I don't know if there's a fountain of tricks. You got to show up every day with your hard hat on. That's the only way to get out of this. There are no tricks to being a leader. You got to show up every day and bring the same amount of work. That's our job. That's what we have to do to dig ourselves out of this. This is when you really have to lead."

Head Coach Dave Tippett on Thursday's result:
"Love the way we started, don't love the way we ended. We took some penalties at the end. Losing sucks, right? You got to keep powering through it. We worked all week. For a lot of the game, we worked. We just didn't get any results for our work and then we got behind and got chased."
Coach Tippett on the Oilers penalty-killing struggles:
"It's a little bit of a by-product of our game. The same thing, you get to chasing it. Penalty killing is like scoring. When you score, you feel like you can keep scoring and when you're killing a penalty, you feel like you're just going to go out there and get the job done. Right now, we can't get the bleeding stopped. You get running around and out of structure a little bit. Just like the rest our game."