FIRST PERIOD
Penalties were yet again the Oilers undoing in the opening period. After taking four and getting scored on once en route to a 6-1 loss in Game 3 on Monday, they were called for three infractions on Thursday and the Panthers tallied a pair of power-play goals plus one more at even strength to post a commanding 3-0 lead through 20 minutes.
Edmonton was under siege early but Stuart Skinner was able to weather the early storm, capped off by a leaping cross-crease save to deny red-hot Sam Bennett of what would have been the 1-0 tally.
It didn’t take long for Florida to find one that counted, though, as Evander Kane was called for high-sticking and Darnell Nurse made it a five-on-three advantage about a minute later. On the faceoff that followed Nurse’s penalty, Aleksander Barkov won the draw back to Tkachuk and he flicked a wrist shot past Barkov’s screen, off Nugent-Hopkins’ stick and under Skinner’s blocker-side arm for his sixth of the playoffs.
Number seven for Tkachuk was also a power-play goal later in the period as the Oilers were shorthanded for high-sticking yet again, this time courtesy Mattias Ekholm. The winger chipped in a rebound from the side of the net to Skinner’s left to put the Panthers up 2-0.
The opening frame onslaught ended with 42 seconds remaining when Carter Verhaeghe forced a turnover behind the Oilers net on a hard forecheck and found Anton Lundell in the slot for a one-timer for his sixth post-season deposit.
Florida outshot Edmonton 17-7 in the dominant first period performance.
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