SUNRISE, Fla. -- Center Connor McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers' 20-year-old superstar who was playing his first career game at the BB&T Center, had been held without a point.

But then McDavid picked up the secondary assist on defenseman Kris Russell go-ahead goal as Edmonton ended the Florida Panthers' five-game win streak with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday night at the BB&T Center.

McDavid, who started the night leading the NHL in points, earned his 68th point of the season on the decisive tally. He also has four points in two games, both wins, over Florida this season, including a go-ahead goal and a go-ahead assist.

"He's an impressive player," Florida's Jonathan Marchessault said of McDavid. "We didn't limit his time and options, and there he was -- skating with the puck the whole night. He was really good."

Russell's goal, his first of the season, came with 12:02 left in the third period. Leon Draisaitl earned the primary assist, dishing the puck to his left on the rush.

"It was nice to see 'Russ' get that game-winning goal," said Edmonton defenseman Oscar Klefbom, who also scored in an impressive game by the Oilers' blue-liners.

Edmonton (33-20-8) washed away the stench from its performance on Tuesday night, when the Oilers lost 4-1 at the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"If you were at the game last night and showed up and watched this one, it was two different teams," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "We figured we had about 11 players (who competed) last night. Tonight, we had (all) 20.

"The message got through. I'm happy that the leaders took care of a few things. It's in them. You just have to get it out of them."

Edmonton got two goals and one assist from defensemen even though it was short one blue-liner for most of the game after Andrej Sekera was hit by a puck on his left arm. He was held to 8:12 of ice time.

"They were active, and that usually doesn't (happen) when you are down a (defenseman) for half the night," McLellan said. "But we still found a way to activate them and get them up on the rush."

Cam Talbot, who Florida had tried to acquire from the New York Rangers a couple of years ago, made 31 saves to earn the win.

James Reimer took the loss for the Panthers (28-21-10), who are 8-2-0 in their past 10 games. Reimer, Florida's backup, is 6-1-1 in his past eight starts.

Florida never led in the game but tied Edmonton three times. The Panthers' power play, which produced two goals in two tries, kept Florida in the game. Florida's Keith Yandle and Jussi Jokinen each had two assists.

Panthers All-Star center Vincent Trocheck had his six-game point streak snapped but still leads Florida in goals (21) and points (42).

Edmonton opened the scoring 5:18 into the first period as Klefbom hammered a slapshot from just inside the blue line. The goal was unassisted as the puck came to Klefbom after a failed Florida clearing attempt.

Florida tied the score 1-1 with just 21 seconds elapsed in the second period as Aleksander Barkov scored a power-play goal, his 15th of the season. After a shot by Aaron Ekblad was blocked, Jokinen jumped on the rebound and shoveled a quick pass to Barkov, who beat Talbot glove-side.

That was the first of five goals in a wild second period.

Edmonton went ahead 2-1 on a rebound goal by Zack Kassian. Florida tied the score on a goal by Colton Sceviour, who set up in the slot and received another key pass from Jokinen.

Edmonton went up 3-2 on a goal by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who crashed the net and knocked in a loose puck.

But Florida's power play came through again to tie the score 3-3. This time, it was Marchessault, who took a pass from Yandle and scored with just four seconds left in the period.

Yandle said the Panthers, who were coming off the first 5-0-0 road trip in franchise history, weren't at their best.

"You don't want to make excuses," Yandle said. "But coming off the long trip, we weren't as sharp as we were on the road.

"The good news is that we get to come back on Friday (against the Calgary Flames) and redeem ourselves."

NOTES: The NHL's No. 1 and No. 2 players in terms of career points where at the BB&T Center on Wednesday. retired star Wayne Gretzky was there as a fan and RW Jaromir Jagr is still active as a Panthers player. ... Florida scratched C Greg McKegg and D Jakub Kindl. ... Edmonton scratched D Adam Larsson and LW Anton Slepyshev. ... This was the start of a four-game Panthers homestand. It also began a string of eight out of nine Florida home games. ... Oilers C Connor McDavid, who turned 20 last month, is the youngest team captain in NHL history. Earlier this season, he reached 100 career points in just 92 games. Only three players in NHL history have reached 100 faster. ... Edmonton plays at the Washington Capitals on Friday.