Stanley Cup Final Game 4: Edmonton Oilers 8, Florida Panthers 1

Saturday was not the Florida Panthers’ night.

The Edmonton Oilers blew out the Panthers 8-1 on Saturday in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, dashing Florida’s first chance to wrap up the series.

Connor McDavid had four points (one goal, three assists), Dylan Holloway had two goals and an assist, and Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Mattias Janmark all had two points apiece.

And now it’s a half-dozen for the Oilers

Edmonton scored its first power-play goal of the series when Zach Hyman cleaned up a rebound on a Leon Draisaitl shot to score on a nearly open net.

It’s 6-1 Edmonton with 6:57 left in the second period.

Oilers blow game open — and Panthers pull Bobrovsky

Is it too early to say this one has gotten out of hand? Darnell Nurse made it 5-1 for Edmonton 4:59 into the second period.

Anthony Stolarz is now in net for the Panthers after Sergei Bobrovsky gave up five goals on 17 shots against. This is Stolarz’s first-ever playoff appearance in his career.

McDavid scores his first of the Stanley Cup Final

Oilers star center Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the Stanley Cup Final, beating Sergei Bobrovsky with a shot from the slot 1:13 into the second period, to put Edmonton up 4-1. Prior to tonight, the Panthers had held McDavid to just three assists through the first three games of the series.

First intermission thoughts

That was not an ideal opening 20 minutes for the Panthers. They gave up three goals on just 10 shots against after giving up just four goals through the first three games of the series.

Meanwhile, Stuart Skinner was stellar on the other end, stopping 13 of 14 Florida shots that came his way.

The Panthers led the first period in shot attempts (31-21), shots on goal (14-10) but the game was even in scoring chances (15-15) and Edmonton had a lead in high-danger chances (5-4).

Edmonton gets another

The busy first period continues, with Edmonton pushing its lead to 3-1 on a Dylan Holloway wrist shot from up close on a feed from Leon Draisaitl with 5:12 left in the opening period.

Panthers get one back

Florida cut its deficit to 2-1 with 8:34 left in the first period when Vladimir Tarasenko tipped in a long shot from defenseman Gustav Forsling.

Prior to the goal, Anton Lundell did the gritty work to keep the puck in the Oilers’ zone to set everything up.

Henrique doubles Oilers’ lead

Edmonton jumped to a 2-0 lead 7:48 into the first period when Adam Henrique tipped Mattias Janmark’s shot from the left circle past Sergei Bobrovsky.

Janmark has now been involved in both of Edmonton’s goals so far in Game 4.

Oilers score shorthanded

Edmonton opens scoring with a Mattias Janmark shorthanded goal 3:11 into the game.

The Panthers were on the power play after Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse was called for tripping Sam Bennett — refs reviewed the play for a five-minute kneeing major but settled on the two-minute minor penalty.

The Panthers have given up four shorthanded goals this postseason. No other team has allowed more than two.

And now, shortly after the Oilers kill the penalty, Evan Rodrigues is in the box for Florida to serve a bench minor.

What lineups should look like

Based on rushes during pregame warmups, here are what the lineups for both teams should look like.

Florida Panthers

FORWARD LINES

Evan Rodrigues-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Vladimir Tarasenko

Steven Lorentz-Kevin Stenlund-Kyle Okposo

DEFENSE PAIRS

Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola-Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Dmitry Kulikov

GOALTENDERS

Sergei Bobrovsky

Anthony Stolarz

Edmonton Oilers

FORWARD LINES

Warren Foegele-Connor McDavid-Zach Hyman

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Leon Draisaitl-Dylan Holloway

Mattias Janmark-Adam Henrique-Connor Brown

Corey Perry-Derek Ryan-Ryan McLeod

DEFENSE PAIRS

Mattias Ekholm-Evan Bouchard

Darnell Nurse-Philip Broberg

Brett Kulak-Cody Ceci

GOALTENDERS

Stuart Skinner

Calvin Pickard

A peek at the watch party

The Panthers are holding a watch party at Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final — and the place is already packed.

The Miami Herald has writers and a photographer on site. We’ll check in with them again throughout the game.

Series schedule and recaps

▪ Game 1: Panthers star goaltender and Vezina Trophy finalist Sergei Bobrobsky put up arguably his best performance of the playoffs, stopped all 32 shots he faced in a 3-0 win for his second shutout of these Stanley Cup playoffs.

It’s the first shutout in Game 1 of a Stanley Cup Final since Roberto Luongo turned aside all 36 shots he faced in the 2011 Cup Final-opener for the Vancouver Canucks against the Boston Bruins.

Carter Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues and Eetu Luostarinen scored for Florida to give Bobrovsky all the cushion he needed.

▪ Game 2: The Panthers rallied from an early deficit to beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 and take a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final.

Niko Mikkola tied the game in the second period and Evan Rodrigues scored twice in the third to give Florida a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Aaron Ekblad capped scoring with an empty-net goal.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped the final 18 shots he faced.

▪ Game 3:Florida withstood a late Edmonton rally to win Game 3 4-3 on Thrusday at Edmonton’s Rogers Place to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.

Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart each had a goal and an assist. Vladimir Tarasenko and Sam Bennett also scored, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 of 35 shots he faced.

▪ Game 4: Tonight

▪ Game 5 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 18, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena, 8 p.m., ABC, ESPN+

▪ Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, June 21, Edmonton’s Rogers Place, 8 p.m., ABC, ESPN+

▪ Game 7 (if necessary): Monday, June 24, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena, 8 p.m., ABC, ESPN+

Pregame Panthers reading

Need to catch up ahead of Game 3? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past few days.

▪ They’re one win from Stanley Cup, but businesslike Panthers ‘can’t think about’ that yet

▪ Bobrovsky continues to stay in the moment. That has the Panthers one win from the Stanley Cup

▪ Barkov key as Panthers beat Oilers to take 3-0 series lead in Stanley Cup Final

▪ From columnist Greg Cote: Florida Panthers, up 3-0, will win Stanley Cup unless Edmonton parties like it’s 1942

▪ For two Panthers players, fatherhood and the Stanley Cup playoffs will always be intertwined