EDMONTON -- Secondary scoring continues to plague the Edmonton Oilers, as the usual suspects netted the team’s only two goals in their first loss at home this season.
The Oilers fell 6-2 to the Florida Panthers Sunday afternoon.
After a scoreless first period, the Panthers offence went on a tear to start the second, taking just 31 seconds to open the scoring.
After receiving the break-out pass from Aaron Ekblad in the Panthers' zone, Aleksander Barkov carried the play into Edmonton territory and dropped a pass to a trailing Ekblad. Ekblad took advantage of an open shooting lane, scoring short side on Mike Smith for the 1-0 lead.
Less than a minute-and-a-half later, the Panthers doubled up on their lead.
After blocking a Matt Benning point shot, Jayce Hawryluk tied Benning up in the neutral zone, allowing teammate Brett Connolly to pick up the puck. With three Oilers surrounding him on his way to the net, Connolly managed to feed a wide open Brian Boyle, who waited for Smith to make his move before shelfing it over his glove for the 2-0 lead.
The onslaught continued just 38 seconds later when Oilers defencman Ethan Bear turned the puck over along the boards inside Edmonton’s blue line to Noel Acciari, who then beat Smith short side for his fourth of the season. The goal gave Florida the 3-0 lead and ended Smith’s night. Smith made 10 saves on the day, all of them coming in the first period.
Mikko Koskinen did not fare much better. The Panthers would strike again in the third period with another early goal.
After taking a pass at the Oilers' blue line, and carrying the play in to the offensive zone, Evgenii Dadonov dropped a pass for Johnathan Huberdeau, whose shot was blocked before Dadonov picked up the loose puck and scored on the wrap-around, beating Koskinen five-hole for the 4-0 Florida lead.
The Oilers would respond on the power play less than three minutes later when a Leon Draisaitl pass to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in front of the net. The puck bounced off James Neal and Florida’s Sergei Bobrovski for his 10th goal of the season and league-leading seventh power play goal of the year.
Draisaitl would add another point for the Oilers later in the period with Ethan Bear and Connor McDavid picking up assists on the play, moving McDavid and Draisaitl in to a three-way tie with John Carlson of the Washington Capitals for the league lead in points.
Florida squashed any hopes of a comeback scoring two more times before the final buzzer.
The Oilers now remain on top of the Pacific Division with at 8-3-1, three points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Oilers kick off a three game road trip in Detroit on Tuesday against the Red Wings, before heading the Columbus to play the Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
