EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — They have scored a total of four goals in their first three league games. Stanley Cup FinalThe Edmonton Oilers got a big boost from their unexpected offensive line to avoid being swept by the Florida Panthers.
Matthias Janmark scored a shorthanded goal three minutes into the game. Game FourDylan Holloway scored two goals to end a long goalless streak, Darnell Nurse scored his first playoff goal and Adam Henrique scored the game-winner. A big 8-1 victory On Saturday night, the series shifted back to South Florida for Game 5 on Tuesday night.
“It takes everybody to win,” said winger Connor Brown, who assisted on Janmark's goal with a two-on-one charge. “Obviously, it's not always the big boys that win. It's about scoring a couple of goals and helping your team win. That's what it takes.”
Of course, the big names pitched in too. Connor McDavid There is a goal 3 assistsLeon Draisett and Zach Hyman each scored the first two points in the finals.
But head coach Chris Knobloch said Janmark and Braun “may have been our best two players. They set the tone early, and the rest of the Oilers followed suit.
“Both of them were great,” McDavid said. “They're both big players for our team. I thought the work they did on the kill, the whole line played great. Really fired us up.”
The three-man line of Janmark, Henrique and Brown worked together to give the Oilers a two-goal lead. This was due to the Panthers' offensive goals. 2019 Stanley Cup Winners Vladimir Tarasenko.
Henrique's goal seven minutes into the game was just the second he's scored in a Finals game in his career and his first in 12 years, when he scored the winning goal for New Jersey during a 3-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings that extended the series.
In the end, 15 of Edmonton's 18 skaters scored points.
“It's good we were able to score a couple of goals to give the fans something to cheer about. It's good we've finally made it through,” Janmark said. “The top players will carry the burden in many games, but with a stronger squad there are bound to be games where we can contribute… Hopefully we can do that a few more times.”
Knoblauch saw the win as a continuation of his team's strong play from Games 1 and 3, rather than the result of any major adjustments to his top two lines – putting Warren Vogel on McDavid's left wing, opposite Hyman, and dropping Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to pair with Draiseitel.
“We definitely scored goals,” Knobloch said, “we were able to put the puck in the net, it was just a short amount of time for it to happen, but, you never know. I thought overall it was pretty good.”
But McDavid, who played for Knoblock with the Erie Otters of the Junior Ontario Hockey League, praised the first-year NHL head coach, who took over in November, for making another change that's paying off.
“He knows the team really well,” McDavid said, “he's been here a long time so he understands the different dynamics both on and off the ice. He's done a great job throughout the playoffs understanding the team and what adjustments need to be made, and I thought he did a great job tonight making adjustments in that regard.”
The lineup's productivity wasn't due to its adjustments, but rather due to good line chemistry that translated into secondary scoring.
“This is a big thing,” Holloway said. “We're at our best when we all work together.”
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AP NHL Playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
