EDMONTON – It doesn’t matter how their own season has gone this year, the Florida Panthers weren’t going to miss out on a chance to cause the Edmonton Oilers further misery.

Sergei Bobrovsky recorded 21 saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season and 53rd of his career as the Panthers continued to plague Edmonton, emerging with a 4-0 victory over the Oilers on Thursday in a rematch of the last two Stanley Cup finals — both won by Florida.

“We all remember each other very well during the two years we’ve been playing against each other and spending a lot of time in this building, so being back gives you a little extra motivation and extra boost,” said Anton Lundell, one of Florida’s goal scorers.

Cole Reinhardt, A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe had the other goals for the injury-riddled Panthers (34-31-3), who snapped a two-game losing skid.

Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues and Michael Benning had two assists each.

Benning, taken by Florida in the fourth round (95th overall) of the 2020 Entry Draft, was playing in just his fourth career NHL game. The 24-year-old Edmonton-area native defenceman already has three points.

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“It was a hard and simple game, we stuck to our strengths,” he said. “I’ve only been here a short time, but it was fun to be a part of it and keep it going. A little extra excitement, I got some friends and family in the building, which is awesome.”

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The Panthers are almost certain to miss the playoffs and a chance to defend their back-to-back titles.

“I think both teams have suffered the same challenges over the last three years,” said Florida head coach Paul Maurice. “We’ve all had long runs, even when we went to the (2022-23) final, they went to the conference final that year.

“Finding that juice in the regular season is a real, real challenge probably right now more so for us than them with the players that are out, and also we are so far out of the playoffs now. But I think we had the juice tonight and had the advantage there.”

Florida has been hit hard by injuries all season long with the most man-games lost in the league including many lengthy ones to key players. Among those out of the lineup on Thursday were Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart. Only defenceman Gustav Forsling has managed to appear in all 68 games this season.

On the Oilers side of the ledger, it was not only a kick in the teeth to suffer another painful loss to the Panthers, but it comes at a costly time in the season with their own playoff fate up in the air.

“You’d be lying if you said it didn’t mean a little more,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “But at the same time, our mindset was we need two points at this time of year and where we are in the standings and pushing for the playoffs.

“It obviously goes without saying that there’s lots of history there. It’s a frustrating night.”

The Oilers (34-27-9) saw a two-game winning streak halted and missed out on an opportunity to move ahead of the idle Anaheim Ducks into first in the Pacific Division.

“Look, everyone comes to the rink with the right mindset,” said veteran Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse. “This team, we want to win. Every day you come to the rink, you want to win. You want to compete.

“You want to beat whoever’s on the other side, whether it’s the Florida Panthers or the Calgary Flames. It doesn’t matter.”

The Oilers are now 1-9-2 when they have had the opportunity to win three games in a row and fell to 0-10-2 this season when Connor McDavid fails to collect a point.

Edmonton was still without star forward Leon Draisaitl, out for the rest of the regular season with a lower-body injury.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2026.

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EDMONTON – Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season as the Florida Panthers continued to plague Edmonton, emerging with a 4-0 victory over the Oilers on Thursday in a rematch of the last two Stanley Cup finals.

Cole Reinhardt, A.J. Greer, Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe scored for the injury-riddled Panthers (34-31-3), who snapped a two-game losing skid.

Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues and Michael Benning all had two assist games. The Panthers are almost certain to miss the playoffs and a chance to defend their back-to-back titles.

Connor Ingram made 19 stops in the loss for Edmonton (34-27-9).

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The Oilers had a modest two-game winning streak halted and missed out on an opportunity to move ahead of idle Anaheim into first in the Pacific Division.

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Edmonton remained without star forward Leon Draisaitl, out for the rest of the regular season with a lower body injury.

Takeaways

Panthers: Benning, a fourth-round (95th overall) selection in the 2020 Entry Draft by Florida, was playing in just his fourth career NHL game. The 24-year-old Edmonton-area native defenceman already has three points.

Oilers: Captain Connor McDavid is still two goals short of 400, one assist away from 800 and three points shy of 1,200 for his career.

Key moment:

Florida went up 3-0 on the power play with 5:39 to play in the second period as Lundell put away his 18th goal of the season on a loos puck in front of the net.

Key stat

Florida has been hit hard by injuries all season long with the most man-games lost in the league including many lengthy IR stints. Among those out of the lineup on Thursday were Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart. Only defenceman Gustav Forsling has managed to appear in all 68 games this season. Conversely, six Oilers have played in every game: Connor McDavid, Matt Savoie, Vasily Podkolzin, Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, and Darnell Nurse.

Up next

Oilers: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Panthers: Visit the Calgary Flames on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2026.

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EDMONTON – Overlooked amid the Edmonton Oilers’ erratic season has been the steady, albeit unspectacular, performance of rookie forward Matt Savoie.

The 22-year-old native of St. Albert, a bedroom community abutting Edmonton’s northwest, has been moved around various lines as head coach Kris Knoblauch searches for consistent and effective combinations. Recently, however, the speedy, sometimes abrasive Savoie has found a fit on the top line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman.

McDavid, whose pace can be a challenge for linemates, said he has been impressed by the youngster.

“I just noticed the energy he’s playing with, lots of jump, lots of juice, keeping lots of pucks alive, getting in on the forecheck and retrieving pucks. It’s been impressive,” McDavid said. “The little things he does so well, like a dog on a bone. Super, super skilled.”

After a modest start, Savoie has produced nine points in his last 11 games, giving him 11 goals and 28 points in 69 games.

He scored the game-winning goal against the Nashville Predators on Sunday to open the Oilers’ four-game homestand, and his crease-side deflection set up Hyman’s clincher in Tuesday’s 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks.

“He’s a guy who’s got an unbelievable motor — he just goes, goes, goes,” Hyman said of the Buffalo Sabres’ ninth overall pick in 2022. “He skates as well as anyone in the league and can make plays. He’s going to play in the top six for a long, long time. Just a phenomenal player.”

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Hyman added that Savoie, in his first NHL season, will only improve.

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“I think people forget how young he is. Everyone expects a first-round draft pick to come in and just light it up right away. It takes time in this league, time to understand how to play and grow. I was 24 when I came into the league, and it took me years to figure it out.”

Although his offensive and plus-minus numbers have been steady all season, Savoie said his overall game wasn’t early on.

“In the first half, there were stretches where a couple of good games, a couple bad games, get a bunch of looks and then go cold for a bit,” he said. “But I feel like since the (Olympic) break, or the Christmas break, I feel I’ve been more consistent game by game and just playing a better all-around game.”

The 5-10, 180-pound winger said the game has “really slowed down” for him since the three-week Olympic break.

“I’m feeling more comfortable with the puck, my legs are feeling really good. I was able to reset and kind of take a step away to assess how my first two-thirds of the season went. I was happy with it, but I knew there were some things I had to address.”

Then he had to adjust to the role of being, at least temporarily, McDavid’s winger.

“It can be tough playing with a guy like that — the speed he plays at and some of the plays he makes — but I’m definitely getting more used to it and accustomed to how quickly the passes come,” Savoie said.

“Sometimes you’re not expecting it, but that’s part of growing into being one of his linemates — always being ready for that play and being in a scoring position.

“And the plays he’s able to make, not many guys can. So it’s been a lot of fun. He drives a lot of the play, so it’s fun to play with him.”

That adjustment hasn’t gone unnoticed by teammates, including veteran Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who has often played alongside McDavid.

“I think the offensive side of things has clicked into place a little bit,” Nugent-Hopkins said of Savoie. “But I think his mindset, the way he has played all season, hasn’t changed.

“He’s such a dynamic young player. He really thinks the game well. That’s why you can put him out there as a young kid on the penalty kill and trust him. Obviously, a great skill set, too, but he goes into those hard areas and plays with confidence. He’s been great for us all season, so it’s nice to see it starting to reward him.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.

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EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers knew the challenge was to come together as a unit after learning their star forward Leon Draisaitl will be out for the remainder of the regular season.

They did just that on Tuesday.

Adam Henrique picked up a pair of assists and 12 other players each had a point as the Oilers were able to rally to earn a huge 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks.

“We talked about that no one guy is going to be able to replace (Draisaitl),” Henrique said. “It’s something that collectively we’re going to have to do right from here to the end of the season and see where that takes us.

“I thought tonight we did a good job responding at times through the game and chipping in like that offensively is big.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor Murphy, Vasily Podkolzin, Max Jones and Zach Hyman scored for the Oilers (34-26-9), who have won two straight to improve to 5-2-1 in March. Edmonton moved into a points tie with Anaheim atop the Pacific Division standings.

The Oilers went up 5-3 with 11:48 to play in the third period as Hyman picked up a rebound in front and lifted a backhand shot into the net from his knees for his 29th goal in just 50 games this season.

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Hyman has an NHL-best 27 goals since Dec. 11.

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“We’re not going to be able to score five every night, but it’s nice when guys are feeling a part of it,” Hyman said. “Nobody is going to be able to replace Leon, he’s one of the best players in the world. Collectively, as a group, everybody’s got to raise their game and be a little bit better. We got contributions all through the lineup.”

The Oilers were without the services of Draisaitl, who is fourth in league scoring, after it was announced earlier in the day that he is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a lower-body injury.

“Right now the timeline we’re using is the end of the regular season,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “And once the playoffs start, we will re-evaluate. That’s where we’re at.”

Jones scored the game winner, leaving him beaming to be able to contribute so soon after being called up from the farm after spending the majority of the season in Bakersfield of the AHL.

“It’s nice to be able to come up and help the team win. Pretty special,” he said before being asked about his good fortune. “Yeah, good fortune and maybe good karma. I was waiting for the good karma, I kept losing card games and stuff.”

Murphy recorded his first goal since coming over to the Oilers in a trade deadline deal with Chicago.

“Any time a star player goes out, there’s minutes to be had that get dispersed to other players,” he said. “So it’s everyone’s time to shine, really. To step up and take those minutes in a positive way.”

Henrique was pleased to be able to chip in a pair of assists after a tough season that has seen him fail to score since Oct. 23.

“I’d love to fill Leo’s spot and just go out there and be Leo, but that’s not how it works,” he said. “I thought tonight was a good step for us and that’s something we should continue to build on.”

Connor Ingram recorded 27 saves to earn the win in the Edmonton net.

The Sharks fell to 1-13-2 this season when Macklin Celebrini failed to collect a point, as he saw a nine-game point streak come to an end.

Dmitry Orlov, Pavol Regenda and Kiefer Sherwood scored for the San Jose (32-28-6), which has lost two in a row and five of its last seven.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.

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EDMONTON – It was both a big win and hopefully not too big of a loss for the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.

Connor McDavid had three assists as the Edmonton Oilers picked up a pair of valuable points with a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators in a game that star forward Leon Draisaitl left with an undisclosed injury.

Draisaitl took a hard hit early in the first period from Ozzy Wiesblatt and suffered an injury, coming back for a couple of shifts before opting not to return for the start of the second.

“He didn’t feel right, he went off, he got checked out and felt like he could play on it,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “The medical staff looked at him and they were comfortable with him trying it out. He went out again and just didn’t feel quite right.

“The fact the medical staff said it doesn’t seem too bad, no immediate red flags, tells me it shouldn’t be a really long injury. There might be some time off, but we’ll find out later.”

Rookie forward Matthew Savoie, who scored his 11th of the season, said it was important for everyone to rise to the occasion with Draisaitl going down.

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“Obviously when it’s a player like Leon, it’s got to be a committee of guys that step up and fill different roles and really contribute to us having success because this is a big part of our season and we really need to rally off some wins and put ourselves in a good spot,” Savoie said.

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“This is the most important time of the season. I think the fire in here is there and is just continuing to grow and we’re continuing to find our game.”

Draisaitl notched his 35th of the campaign before going down and Zach Hyman also scored for the Oilers (33-26-9), who snapped a two-game skid in what has become a heated fight for playoff positions in the Pacific Division and with wild-card challengers nipping at their heels.

“We’re at a point in the season where we don’t have a choice,” said Hyman, who has 28 goals in 49 games this season. “We have to play well. We have to win games. We have to close games out. We have to play strong defensively. We did all those things — it was a good team effort from our goalie all the way out.”

Edmonton sits third in the Pacific, two points back of Anaheim in first and one back of Vegas in second. Seattle holds the final playoff spot in the West, sitting just three points back of the Oilers.

Connor Ingram recorded 26 saves to earn the win in the Edmonton net.

“The quality of the starts have been about 75 to 80 per cent where he’s given us good games,” Knoblauch said. “Of all the games he’s played there’s maybe two poor ones. He’s been a really good player for us. We need goaltending like that and he’s been solid. Our team should have a lot of confidence in him.”

The Oilers have owned the Predators in recent years, with a 16-1-3 record in their last 20 games against them. Edmonton is now 25-4-5 when scoring first this season.

McDavid extended his points streak against Nashville to 18 games, tying his best career run against a single opponent. Only Draisaitl has a longer current streak against a single opponent in the NHL, with points in 20 straight games against Chicago. In 27 career games against Nashville, McDavid now has 51 points (16G, 35A), while Draisaitl has 55 points (30G, 25A) in 32 games.

Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm, who picked up his 30th assist in the contest, has been a huge addition since coming over from Nashville at the 2023 trade deadline. Since that trade, Ekholm leads all NHL defencemen with a plus-109 rating.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2026.

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EDMONTON – Connor McDavid had three assists as the Edmonton Oilers picked up a pair of valuable points with a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Sunday.

Leon Draisaitl, Matthew Savoie and Zach Hyman scored for the Oilers (33-26-9) who snapped a two-game skid.

There is major cause for concern, however, as Draisaitl took a hard hit early in the first from Ozzy Wiesblatt and suffered an undisclosed injury, coming back for a couple of shifts before opting not to return for the start of the second period.

The Oilers have owned the Predators in recent years, with a 16-1-3 record in their last 20 games against them. Edmonton is now 25-4-5 when scoring first this season.

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Fedor Svechkov replied for the Predators (29-28-9), who have lost six of their last eight.

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Connor Ingram recorded 26 saves to earn the win in the Edmonton net, while Justus Annunen made 27 stops for Nashville.

TAKEAWAYS

Predators: Winger Matthew Wood, selected 15th overall in 2023, had his a four-game point streak (4G, 1A) come to an end.

Oilers: McDavid extended his points streak against Nashville to 18 games, tying his best career run against a single opponent. Only Draisaitl has a longer current streak against a single opponent in the NHL, with points in 20 straight games against Chicago. In 27 career games against Nashville, McDavid now has 51 points (16G, 35A), while Draisaitl has 55 points (30G, 25A) in 32 games.

KEY MOMENT

The Oilers took a two-goal lead 2:32 into the second period as McDavid made a nice feed across to Savoie on a two-on-one and he wired home his 11th of the season.

KEY STAT

Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm, who picked up his 30th assist in the contest, has been a huge addition since coming over from Nashville at the 2023 trade deadline. Since that trade, Ekholm leads all NHL defencemen with a plus-108 rating.

UP NEXT

Predators: Visit the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.

Oilers: Host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2026.

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EDMONTON – The Carolina Hurricanes were pretty quiet during the trade deadline period, but based on the way they’ve been playing of late it could easily be argued they didn’t really need to tinker with the lineup.

Jackson Blake had a pair of goals and K’Andre Miller had three assists as the Eastern Conference-leading Hurricanes registered a 6-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.

Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist and Shayne Gostisbehere, Jordan Martinook, and Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes (40-16-6), who have won seven of their last eight games and have gone 16-2-3 in their last 21.

“A full team effort,” said Hurricanes defenceman Jalen Chatfield. “I don’t think there was a guy that took a shift off. We knew that was a good team coming in tonight and we had to play together and we needed everybody.”

Frederik Andersen only needed to make 13 stops to earn the win in the Carolina net.

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“They’ve obviously got some very good players and we did a really good job of containing them,” said the veteran goalie. “They’ve got a lot of speed when they carry the puck up the middle, the D did a hell of a job containing (Connor) McDavid a lot.”

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The only downside to the night was that the team lost Gostisbehere to an undisclosed injury.

“It’s obviously not good, he’s kind of been dealing with stuff, I feel like, all year,” said Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Just when he kind of gets rolling, he keeps getting nicked up. So, I don’t really have an update at this time.”

Brind’Amour was impressed with how the rest of the defence stepped up.

“Those guys really dug in,” he said. “We lose ‘Ghost’ and we’re down to five, and are really playing four for the most part, it’s a lot to ask against that team and thought they did just a great job. They didn’t have a lot of chances and didn’t have a ton of shots, so we were doing a pretty good job.”

The Hurricanes did make one minor deal on trade deadline day, acquiring bruising 35-year-old forward Nicolas Deslauriers from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2027.

Deslauriers has dressed in 24 games for the Flyers this season, recording one assist and 33 penalty minutes.

Zach Hyman had a pair of goals and Vasily Podkolzin also replied for the Oilers (30-25-8), who have lost six of their last eight. Edmonton has allowed 56 goals in its last 12 games.

Tristan Jarry managed 26 saves in the loss for Edmonton.

“Obviously we need to find it and put together wins,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We’ve only got 20 games left and we’re on the brink of not making the playoffs. We can’t wait to find our game in the playoffs because we need to ultimately get there. We need to find another gear.”

The Oilers have had 10 home games this season with a save percentage below .840, an NHL high.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 7, 2026.

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