SUNRISE, Fla. — When puck dropped Saturday at FLA Live Arena, the expectation was the Florida Panthers would need to contain the Edmonton Oilers’ one-two punch of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The two, after all, entered Saturday as the NHL’s top point scorers — McDavid with 31 (15 goals, 16 assists), Draisaitl with 27 (nine goals, 18 assists).
It turned out that one of Edmonton’s defensemen would be the Oilers’ real scoring threat in Sunrise.
Tyson Barrie scored Edmonton’s first goals in a 4-2 win over the Panthers at FLA Live Arena to hand Florida (8-6-1) its first regulation loss on home ice this season. The Panthers were 4-0-1 in Sunrise this season entering Saturday.
After the Panthers dominated a scoreless first period, Barrie opened scoring with 8:11 left in the first period with a one-timer from the point off a pass from Ryan McLeod that found its way through traffic and past Florida goaltender Spencer Knight, who was coming off a shutout performance Wednesday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Barrie, who had one goal all season entering Saturday, then buried his second goal with 13:07 left when he corralled the puck off a faceoff and sent a slapshot past Knight for a power-play goal to put Edmonton (9-7-0) up 2-1.
Prior to Barrie’s second goal, the Panthers had killed off each of the first four penalties they committed on Saturday and had been 14 for 15 on the penalty kill overall dating back to their game against the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 5.
Edmonton winger Warren Foegele scored the eventual game-winner from up close with 4:53 remaining on a feed from Draisaitl. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added an empty-net goal with 1:26 left to play.
Sam Bennett scored both of Florida’s goals. He crashed toward a rebound and sent a wrist shot past Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner to tie the game at 1-1 with 17:18 left in regulation for his first goal. The second goal came with 4:02 left in regulation when he
Florida outshot Edmonton 42-32.
Key players return
All-Star winger Matthew Tkachuk, star defensemen Aaron Ekblad and veteran winger Patric Hornqvist all returned to Florida’s lineup on Saturday.
Tkachuk sat out the past two games while serving a suspension for a high stick against Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick on Nov. 5. Ekblad had missed 11 games while on long-term injured reserve for a groin injury. Hornqvist missed three games after taking a high hit in the San Jose Sharks game on Nov. 3.
This and that
— The Tampa Bay Lightning claimed forward Rudolfs Balcers, who the Panthers placed on waivers Friday in order to clear cap space for Ekblad to be activated off long-term injured reserve.
