Florida goalie Roberto Luongo won for the second straight time in his return to the lineup to lead the Panthers past the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Thursday in Sunrise, Fla.
Luongo, who missed nine games, stopped 26 shots in his first home start. He returned last Friday from a leg injury to lead the Panthers past Winnipeg 4-2 to conclude the teams' NHL Global Series in Finland.
Evgenii Dadonov, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau and Colton Sceviour scored for the Panthers, who won their first game on home ice.
Right winger Mike Hoffman assisted on the goals by Dadonov and Sceviour. Hoffman has points in each of Florida's past 10 games while Dadonov stretched his streak to nine -- the two longest active runs in the NHL.
It was the Panthers' first home win over the Oilers since a 5-4 victory on March 8, 2002.
Leon Draisaitl scored for Edmonton, and Connor McDavid, the league's second-leading scorer, had the lone assist to give him 23 points on the season. Colorado's Mikko Rantanen leads with league with 23 points.
Cam Talbot made 29 saves for the Oilers.
Edmonton finished 1-3-0 on its four-game road trip and lost a third straight game for the first time this season.
Luongo kept Edmonton off the board early with a pair of outstanding saves in the first five minutes. He robbed Draisaitl with a point-blank glove from the bottom of the right circle, and then three minutes later he sprawled across the crease to deny Ty Rattie, who prematurely raised his stick in a goal celebration.
Florida grabbed a 1-0 lead on a spectacular three-on-two goal from Dadonov at 6:45 of the second period. Hoffman toe-dragged a feed to Aleksander Barkov, who slid a backhanded pass from the slot to a streaking Dadonov. The Russian winger deked Talbot and slammed home his team-best seventh goal.
An unimpeded Bjugstad scored his third marker when he flipped in a rebound from the low slot at 8:12 for a 2-0 lead as the Panthers outshot Edmonton 19-4 in the opening period.
Draisaitl scored his 10th goal on the third period's first shift to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Huberdeau restored the two-goal lead when he snapped home his third tally on a power play at 3:43.
Sceviour added an empty-netter in the final minute.
--Field Level Media
Edmonton | Florida | |
Leon Draisaitl 1 | Points | Mike Hoffman 2 |
Leon Draisaitl 1 | Goals | Nick Bjugstad 1 |
Connor McDavid 1 | Assists | Mike Hoffman 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Jonathan Huberdeau 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Cam Talbot .906 | Save Percentage | Roberto Luongo .963 |
Cam Talbot 29 | Saves | Roberto Luongo 26 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Edmonton | 27 | 1 | 0-3 | 3-4 | 13 | 25 |
Florida | 33 | 4 | 1-4 | 3-3 | 11 | 42 |