The Edmonton Oilers avoided elimination, dominating the Florida Panthers 8-1 on Saturday to force a Game 5. Here are three takeaways from the action.
The offense finally came alive for Oilers
Despite plenty of opportunities, the Oilers offense had been snake-bitten for most of the series heading into Game 4. However, the goals finally came on Saturday, eight to be exact.
Edmonton planned to attack Sergei Bobrovsky early and often, and this strategy worked perfectly. Crashing the net at every opportunity, the Oilers created havoc in front of the Panthers’ net, capitalizing several times on cross-ice passes.
They may have laid the groundwork for Saturday’s turnaround in the third period of Game 3, which saw the Oilers score twice in a 4-3 loss. However, this was the first sustained breakout the offense has seen, which is a promising development for an Edmonton team that scored only four goals coming into Game 4.