Panthers jump out to a big lead in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers

By Canadian Press on June 12, 2025.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk scored twice on the power play, and the Florida Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead over the Edmonton Oilers in the opening 20 minutes of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night.

Anton Lundell capped the run with 41.7 seconds left in the period for the defending champions, who lead the series 2-1. They are two wins away from being the third NHL team over the past two decades to win the Cup back to back.

The Oilers made a goalie switch to start the second, replacing Stuart Skinner with journeyman backup Calvin Pickard. Skinner stopped 14 of the 17 shots he faced in the first.

Florida outshot Edmonton 17-7, including eight shots in a row after Sergei Bobrovsky made a left shoulder save on Connor McDavid on the first shift. The Oilers took three penalties in the first 16 minutes after talking the past few days about being more disciplined than in their 6-1 loss in Game 3.

The Panthers have scored 10 of the past 11 goals in the final dating to Brad Marchand winning Game 2 eight minutes into the second overtime. Tkachuk’s goals made them 7 of 20 on the power play against the Oilers.

Florida has never blown a 3-0 lead in franchise postseason history.

The Panthers played about as relaxed as they looked in their practices and skates ahead of Game 4, upbeat on the ice and downplaying the gravity of the situation when asked about it.

“I feel like every game’s so big during this time,” Lundell said. “The stakes gets higher. Everybody wants to win. But we both know for both teams it’s a big game, and we want to be good.”

The Panthers are nearing full strength at a time of year usually known for players gutting through injuries, with Paul Maurice saying Sam Reinhart is back healthy and Tkachuk looks like he is rounding into form. The Oilers are missing Zach Hyman because of his playoff-ending wrist injury, and fellow top-line forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is dealing with an undisclosed ailment.

That discrepancy could make a difference in their Cup final rematch. One thing that is the same is Florida locking in and normalizing pressure situations like this.

“Our approach, it’s pretty similar the entire playoffs,” said Bennett, who leads all scorers this postseason with 14 goals. “Whether it’s Game 1 or Game 7, we play the same style. We play just as hard. We’re not sitting back, so we really are not going to be changing anything in this next game or any other games to come.”

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press

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