June 15, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers have officially made their presence felt in the Stanley Cup Final. They stepped up with the Stanley Cup in the building. The Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers by a resounding score of 8-1 in Game 4 to avoid the sweep.

The 8-1 score represents the largest margin of victory by a team facing elimination in the Stanley Cup Final in NHL history. The previous mark was six goals in a 9-3 win by the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs over the Detroit Red Wings. I’m not saying a thing about the situation those 1942 Maple Leafs found themselves in during that Stanley Cup Final.

Oilers 8-1 win sets the record for the largest margin of victory by a NHL team facing elimination in the Stanley Cup Final.

Previous record: Maple Leafs 9-3 win over the Red Wings in Game 5 of the 1942 Stanley Cup Final.

What happened that year???

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) June 16, 2024

Related: Can the Oilers come back from the dead?

Call Outs

No call outs tonight! The Oilers played better than anyone could possibly have predicted tonight. They earned a night without criticism.

Stand Outs

Where do I even begin! Connor McDavid had himself a four-point night, including three assists which have officially given him the most assists in a single playoff run.

I thought that Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown really led the charge in Game 4 though. Brown chipped a puck by a Panthers defender to send him and Janmark on a shorthanded two-on-one. Brown outwaited Sergei Bobrovsky and fed Janmark in the slot for the first goal of the game. Janmark made a great play to centre a puck to Adam Henrique for the second goal of the game. Those goals got the party started for the Oilers. Janmark got two points, and Brown got an assist. Brown was a force all night long.

Dylan Holloway had the game of his life in Game 4. He scored a beautiful goal on a backhand deke on Bobrovsky. Then he finished off a spectacular tic-tac-toe passing play with McDavid and Corey Perry. He almost capped off the hat trick late in the game, but that play resulted in an assist on Ryan McLeod’s 8-1 goal. Holloway was a menace with his speed and physicality. It’s great to see the kid get rewarded with a big night.

Shoutouts

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the longest serving Oiler, scored his first Stanley Cup Final goal in Game 4. That one tugs on the ol’ heart strings. The five-on-three powerplay marker got the Oilers powerplay on the board in the series, which is an important factor going forward.

How about Darnell Nurse scoring his first playoff goal since 2022 after all the heat he has taken in these playoffs? He added six shots, five blocked shots, and a hit while going +3 on the night. It was also great to see Nurse get on the board, especially with his sister and his dad in attendance.

Leon Draisaitl got his first two points of the series, and his first two career Stanley Cup Final points.

I thought Warren Foegele was great in Game 4. He only got an assist, but his speed, tenacity, and willingness to get inside position on Panthers defenders was huge in this game.

Cody Ceci was a healthy scratch earlier in the series, but he had a clean sheet and went +3 in Game 4. Philip Broberg also went +3.

Finally, Stuart Skinner was amazing in this game. He made 32 saves on 33 shots, including two unbelievable sliding glove saves! Skinner made sure the Oilers stayed ahead after they got ahead early.

Wrap

What a game! What a way to get the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Final win since 2006. Chasing Bobrovsky from the net after getting five goals on seventeen shots was huge for the confidence of the Oilers. Bobrovsky was a brick wall early in the series, and the Oilers found a way to break through. 

Bobrovsky did bounce back nicely after allowing five goals on 23 shots in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final though. That’s a reminder that while this was an incredible win for the Oilers, it’s just one win. They need three more of those. Their chance to get the next one comes in Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers take stranglehold of Stanley Cup Final in Game 3