Likely deserving a better outcome, the Panthers, despite being on the wrong end of the final score, finished with huge advantages in shot attempts (75-38) and scoring chances (45-25).
"A couple little things that we can clear up, but I loved our compete," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said. "I thought guys played really hard. We played fast. We dictated the pace of play. We did the things we need to do to win games, and it just didn't happen tonight."
The main reason that didn't happen was due to the man between Edmonton's pipes.
Making big save after big save to help keep Florida's league-leading offense in check, Mikko Koskinen finished with 44 saves, including turning aside 32 of 33 shots he saw at even-strength.
"He played unreal," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "I think that he was the biggest part of their win. We got our chances, we got our shots, but we didn't have that second effort."
Despite being held without a shot on goal for nearly the first eight minutes of the contest, the Oilers managed to break the ice this afternoon when Derek Ryan finished off a 2-on-1 rush by sneaking a shot through Sergei Bobrovsky's five-hole to make it 1-0 at 10:14 of the first period.
Less than two minutes later, the Panthers pulled even when Anton Lundell took a between-the-legs feed from Frank Vatrano, who also threaded the puck through the wickets of a defender as well, and hammered a heavy shot past Koskinen from the low slot to then make it a 1-1 game.
Giving the Cats the lead, Barkov scored on the power play to make it 2-1 at 16:38.
Touching twine a second time, Ryan got the game even once more in the second period when, on a delayed penalty, he ripped a blistering shot over Bobrovsky's glove to make it 2-2 at 7:28. On the power play soon after, Leon Draisaitl scored to give the Oilers a 3-2 advantage at 10:04.
With 43.7 seconds left in the middle frame, Ryan completed his hat trick when he tapped in pass from Evander Kane into the net from the doorstep to increase Edmonton's lead to 4-2.
"I think we battled hard," Barkov said of Florida's effort in defeat. "We played a good game, but obviously not the best game that we can play. We didn't do the right things for 60 minutes. We had some bad plays in that game, and it cost us a few goals and a few momentum changes."
Trimming the deficit down to just a single goal late in the third period, Barkov buried a silky feed from Jonathan Huberdeau on the power player to make it 4-3 with 4:09 remaining in regulation.
But even with a fervent 6-on-5 push in the game's waning minutes, that's as close as they'd get.
"You get in these little stretches during the season, and I think you need to realize how hard it is to win in this league," Brunette said. "The focus of 60 minutes - not 58, not 59, not 40 like the other night. For us, every little puck, every little play counts. It's a good learning [experience] if we're going to learn, but we haven't learned all week. Hopefully we start getting it a bit better."
Sitting in first place in the Atlantic Division at 35-13-5, the Panthers will now have a few days to make some adjustments before continuing their homestand against the Senators on Thursday.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday's loss in Sunrise…
