GAME RECAP: Panthers 6, Oilers 5

EDMONTON, AB – Zach Hyman had two goals and Connor McDavid recorded three assists, but the Edmonton Oilers couldn't hold on against the Florida Panthers to extend their win streak to six games, falling 6-5 on Monday night in a rematch of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place.

"Just disappointing," said Connor Brown, who scored for a third straight game. "When you play a good team, it comes down to just the little things and we made a few too many mistakes tonight."

The Oilers came back from trailing the Panthers 2-1 by scoring three unanswered goals over a 3:04 span of the second period, with Hyman kicking off the three-goal stretch for the Blue & Orange 6:20 into the frame by notching his second goal of the contest and his seventh over the last six games.

Hyman left the game during the period after taking a hard shot from Evan Bouchard to the face, but he'd return for the start of the final period and finished the contest with two goals over 18:01 of ice time.

"To battle the way he did and come back in the third period says a lot about his character," Brown said. "I just wish we could've got the win for him."

Brown recorded his 100th career goal later in the second period before Leon Draisaitl increased his NHL's goalscoring lead on the power play with his 23rd goal, but the Panthers would score the next three through Gustav Forsling, Nikko Mikkola and Sam Reinhart to lift themselves into a 5-4 advantage with 12:37 left in regulation.

Kasperi Kapanen scored 39 seconds later before Carter Verhaeghe found the game-winner with less than seven minutes left, ultimately stealing Florida the victory in a high-scoring game that followed two consecutive shutout defeats for last season's Stanley Cup champions to Calgary and Vancouver.

"Playing a team that was shut out twice in a row, you knew they'd be hungry offensively," McDavid said. "We've got to be better there."

The Oilers will try to start a new streak on Thursday night when they welcome the Boston Bruins to Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

You can argue the Oilers had a strong opening period despite trailing Florida by a goal through 20 minutes, but they know better than anyone else in the NHL that you can't give the Panthers any opportunity to pounce.

Mattias Janmark made a strong move to the Florida net to draw the opening power play for the Oilers, but the man advantage quickly backfired on them after Evan Bouchard lost his footing walking across the blue line with the puck to spring Jesper Boqvist on a breakaway.

After coming in alone, the Panthers centre beat Stuart Skinner blocker side with his shot from the left circle, ending a scoreless streak of 143:43 for Florida that included back-to-back shutout losses on their four-game Western road trip to Vancouver and Calgary.

The Oilers allowed only their second shorthanded goal of the season, while Boqvist's tally was the Panthers' league-leading eighth on the penalty kill.

Zach Hyman continued his terrific goal-scoring pace over half a period later, scoring on a wide-open look from the left circle that was made possible by a nice passing exchange by Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard to open up space for him in the right circle with less than five minutes left.

Hyman ripped it top shelf on netminder Sergei Bobrovsky for his sixth goal in his last six games since returning from injury on Dec. 5 against the Blue Jackets.

Edmonton nearly escaped their next mistake when Darnell Nurse was given an extra unsportsmanlike penalty for arguing his tripping infraction with the official, extending Florida's man advantage another two minutes for Matthew Tkachuk to score the go-ahead goal with 12 seconds left on the power play.

Using his skate, Tkachuk redirected a Carter Verhaeghe shot through the legs of Stuart Skinner, and a video review for a kicking motion would uphold Florida's goal to give them a 2-1 lead with 28 seconds left in the opening frame.

"You're not giving yourself any favours yelling at the referees," Knoblauch said. "One, you're either going to take another penalty – maybe a [misconduct] – or if you're not going to the box for an extra, you're more likely just upsetting the referee, who is more likely to call a penalty later on the game.

"No matter who you are, yelling at the referees doesn't help you at all."

SECOND PERIOD

There's no stopping Zach at this point.

Off the poke by McDavid in the neutral zone to push the puck past two Florida defenders, the winger came in alone on a breakaway and went to his backhand for the emphatic finish over Bobrovsky, jumping into the boards after in celebration after making it 2-2 with his seventh goal in his last six games.

Hyman now has 14 points (10G, 4A) over his last 15 games, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl picking up the assists on Hyman's 10th of the season.

The 32-year-old did leave the Oilers' bench later in the period from a high shot to the face delivered by his own teammate Bouchard, but the winger would be back to start the third period with a full-face visor.

"It's never easy to see," McDavid described of Hyman. "I see a teammate in a pretty gruesome situation there. It's great to see him back out there, though. He gutted it out. That was pretty nasty, though."

Then, it took Connor Brown only 43 seconds to give the Oilers back the lead with his 100th career NHL goal, which came off a deceptive shot from the winger that caught Bobrovsky off guard after he exchanged passes with Corey Perry coming over Florida's blue line.

"Connor's been playing really well," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Obviously he's been a big part of our penalty kill. Right now, he's having things go his way scoring goals, but you saw how he was shooting the puck the other night on the short-handed goal. He caught that and released it right away. He picked a corner tonight with no hesitation, so here's a player that's playing really well and probably deserving a little more ice time."

With his sixth goal of the season, Brown has now scored in three straight games for the Oilers.

"I feel good," he said. "It's obviously nice when they go in and you're getting some good looks and good passes. I feel like I'm building, so I'm just trying to get better and better."

Leon Draisaitl continued the short-side trend for the Oilers 2:21 later when he netted his league-leading 23rd goal of the season on the power play.

From a tight angle, the German wasted no time unleashing a hard shot off the quick pass from McDavid near the bottom of the right circle, leaving Bobrovsky flat-footed as it beat him inside the near post to make it 4-2 for Edmonton with over half the middle frame still to play.

Draisaitl leads the NHL this season in goals (23), even-strength goals (18) and game-winning goals (7), and his second-period tally would've stood up as the decisive goal if it weren't for a determined push from the Panthers over the final 30 minutes of regulation on Monday.

Starting with Gustav Forsling's lucky bounce over the head of Stuart Skinner with 3:05 remaining in the middle frame, the Panthers would begin pulling their way back, cutting the lead to 4-3 before eventually taking the lead in the final period.

THIRD PERIOD

Back from the dressing room with a full visor, Hyman had a great chance for the hat-trick just over two minutes into the third period, missing an open back-hand attempt wide of Florida's net with Bobrovsky stretched out in front of him trying to deny the opportunity.

"We saw him in between periods and we're very fortunate that it didn't get more above his head than it did," Knoblauch said of Hyman. "But we're lucky because Zach's a very important player to our team, and all things considered, it could have been worse."

It would've been a well-timed goal as well, as the Panthers were about to claw their way back.

The Oilers got too involved in a scrum around the benches while the puck was in their own zone, allowing the Panthers to attack three-on-two after Eetu Luostarinen forechecked and stole the puck off Bouchard along the boards. The Finnish forward won it for Anton Lundell, who slid it under Mattias Ekholm to the opposite post for defenceman Niko Mikkola to finish off the play.

The sequence continued a forgetful evening for Bouchard, who was minus-2 to go with his high shot off the face of Hyman in the second period. He still finished the game with a goal and an assist.

"Definitely seen Evan play a lot better than that," Knoblauch said. "The first one, he falls and gives up the breakaway. We had some other guys who didn't play their best either, so I'm not just putting this on Evan. He's obviously one of our best players, and usually, you count on those guys to win close games. If you're winning games, they're usually your best players, but they can't be your best players every night.

"It was a tough night for Evan, but he doesn't have those very often."

With the score tied 4-4, it took forward Sam Reinhart 30 seconds to put the Panthers ahead against the run of play and with his 20th goal of the season that has him tied for third in the NHL's scoring race behind Draisaitl (23), Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov (22) and Tampa Bay's Brayden Point (20).

Reinhart chipped it past the blueline and caught a piece of the skate of Ekholm to bring him down, allowing him to re-acquire the puck along the right side and shelve an impossible-angle shot under the crossbar for an unassisted marker that made it 5-4 Panthers with 12:37 left in regulation.

"Bad mistakes, whether it was the defence not getting the puck out or them not being supported; line changes when they shouldn't have been," Knoblauch said. "Just some costly mistakes that shouldn't happen."

Kasperi Kapanen jammed in an equalizer just 39 seconds later, marking the end of a three-goal stretch of 1:09 in the final frame that made it five goals apiece with over half the period left in the first meeting between the two sides since Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

But with 6:55 remaining, the Panthers – just like in the Final – got the one goal they needed to beat the Oilers in another close one.

Carter Verhaeghe found space in the slot to take a pass from Sam Bennett and send it over the right pad of Stuart Skinner with Matthew Tkachuk in front helping set the screen despite the defensive pressure being provided by Ekholm.

Hyman had Edmonton's best chance to equalize and clinch his hat-trick in the final four minutes, but he missed wide on McDavid's feed from across the slot after scraping his shot along the ice with Bobrovsky stretched out.

The Oilers would fall 6-5 at the final buzzer to end their five-game win streak, dropping their record to 18-11-2 on the season after allowing more than three goals for the first time in 11 games.

"I think the sense of urgency goes up," McDavid said. "We talked about not letting losses turn into two, three, or four games. You gotta respond. We always have and I would expect the same on Thursday."