In the end, it was the ‘Eh Team that saved the day — and the Stanley Cup series — for the Edmonton Oilers on a hometown Saturday night.That’s because the home-team put up 8 goals to manhandle the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the championship series to at least prolong the agony of losing it all in a sweep.And to quote the late Hockey Night in Canada great Bob Cole, it was a dandy. The fans were the seventh man on the ice all night.For all the talk of the Oilers’ superstars, it was the plumber brigade that showed up early and carried the day.Matthias Janmark — who? — set the tone with a shorthanded marker at 3:11 of the first. That was followed by — again, who? — Adam Henrique with the game winner at 7:48, again from Janmark..That set the tone.Two garbage goals and the Oilers never looked back. The Panthers managed to keep it seemingly close at 11:26 with their only score of the night.But that’s when the Oilers’ A-Team kicked in. Leon Draisaitl finally hit the score sheet on a beauty feed to upstart Dylan Holloway — aka Dylan Hollywood — at 14:48.Then the captain, BigMac with extra sauce, took over with #97 scoring his first Stanley Cup goal on an absolutely stunning drive from Zach Hyman and Evan ‘Bouch-bomb’ Bouchard early in the second. That’s pretty much all she wrote. With a side of fries.After that, it was the Connor McDavid show. MikeyD set up the much-maligned Darnell Nurse for his first playoff goal since the Oilers beat the Flames in the second round in 2022. It was a huge confidence boost for the highly criticized D-man.McDavid was at it again at 13:03 of the second to set up Ryan Nugent Hopkins from Dr. Drai to make it 6-1. McDavid set an all-time record for assists in an NHL playoff — surpassing #99 himself — with his 32nd helper and Dylan Hollywood’s second goal of the night. .To sum stunner Shania Twain: “So you think you’re Brad Pitt or something?” No need. He has the touch.Plumbing apprentice Ryan McLeod closed the scoring at 16:41 on a slap shot.McDavid got a goal and three assists, while Holloway got two goals and an assist. Draisaitl and Hyman got two assists a piece.Stuart Skinner was brilliant, turning away 32 of 33 shots. The much vaunted Sergei Bobrovsky let in 5 goals on 16 shots before being pulled for Anthony Stolarz in the second, who let in three on 19. More important, the outcome gave the Oilers a much needed shot of hope and confidence heading back to Florida for Game 5, which goes Tuesday in Miami.Despite the positive vibe, the Oilers have their work cut out. Of 210 teams who have fallen behind 3-0 in any Stanley cup series — much less the finals — only four have EVER come back to win it all. The last was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs who did it against the Detroit Red Wings.That said, the longest losing streak the Oilers experienced after coach Kris Knoblauch took over was three games — in the finals — and went on a near record 17 game tear midseason to turn their season around. In other words, it ain’t over until it’s over. Connor McDavid summed it up in the tunnel after the game: ”There's nothing to panic about, you know? We're still in a hole. There's no pressure on us. Really. We just got to find a way to do it.“
In the end, it was the ‘Eh Team that saved the day — and the Stanley Cup series — for the Edmonton Oilers on a hometown Saturday night.That’s because the home-team put up 8 goals to manhandle the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the championship series to at least prolong the agony of losing it all in a sweep.And to quote the late Hockey Night in Canada great Bob Cole, it was a dandy. The fans were the seventh man on the ice all night.For all the talk of the Oilers’ superstars, it was the plumber brigade that showed up early and carried the day.Matthias Janmark — who? — set the tone with a shorthanded marker at 3:11 of the first. That was followed by — again, who? — Adam Henrique with the game winner at 7:48, again from Janmark..That set the tone.Two garbage goals and the Oilers never looked back. The Panthers managed to keep it seemingly close at 11:26 with their only score of the night.But that’s when the Oilers’ A-Team kicked in. Leon Draisaitl finally hit the score sheet on a beauty feed to upstart Dylan Holloway — aka Dylan Hollywood — at 14:48.Then the captain, BigMac with extra sauce, took over with #97 scoring his first Stanley Cup goal on an absolutely stunning drive from Zach Hyman and Evan ‘Bouch-bomb’ Bouchard early in the second. That’s pretty much all she wrote. With a side of fries.After that, it was the Connor McDavid show. MikeyD set up the much-maligned Darnell Nurse for his first playoff goal since the Oilers beat the Flames in the second round in 2022. It was a huge confidence boost for the highly criticized D-man.McDavid was at it again at 13:03 of the second to set up Ryan Nugent Hopkins from Dr. Drai to make it 6-1. McDavid set an all-time record for assists in an NHL playoff — surpassing #99 himself — with his 32nd helper and Dylan Hollywood’s second goal of the night. .To sum stunner Shania Twain: “So you think you’re Brad Pitt or something?” No need. He has the touch.Plumbing apprentice Ryan McLeod closed the scoring at 16:41 on a slap shot.McDavid got a goal and three assists, while Holloway got two goals and an assist. Draisaitl and Hyman got two assists a piece.Stuart Skinner was brilliant, turning away 32 of 33 shots. The much vaunted Sergei Bobrovsky let in 5 goals on 16 shots before being pulled for Anthony Stolarz in the second, who let in three on 19. More important, the outcome gave the Oilers a much needed shot of hope and confidence heading back to Florida for Game 5, which goes Tuesday in Miami.Despite the positive vibe, the Oilers have their work cut out. Of 210 teams who have fallen behind 3-0 in any Stanley cup series — much less the finals — only four have EVER come back to win it all. The last was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs who did it against the Detroit Red Wings.That said, the longest losing streak the Oilers experienced after coach Kris Knoblauch took over was three games — in the finals — and went on a near record 17 game tear midseason to turn their season around. In other words, it ain’t over until it’s over. Connor McDavid summed it up in the tunnel after the game: ”There's nothing to panic about, you know? We're still in a hole. There's no pressure on us. Really. We just got to find a way to do it.“
