Florida Panthers fall to Oilers on Derek Ryan hat trick, lose third home game in a row

The NHL’s top three top scorers were in the house in Sunrise, but none of them emerged as the game’s biggest star on Saturday.

Instead, the Edmonton Oilers’ 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers belonged to Derek Ryan and Mikko Koskinen.

Ryan — an undrafted player who didn’t make the NHL until age 29 and had just four goals this season entering Saturday — had his first career hat trick.

Ryan, a 35-year-old center, now has 32 career goals.

Teammate Connor McDavid has 223 goals — and he is a decade younger. Teammate Leon Draisaitl has 237 goals, and he’s 26.

McDavid had two assists on Saturday and Florida’s Jonathan Huberdeau had one, and they are now tied for the NHL lead with 75 points.

It was McDavid’s first game in South Florida since Nov. 8, 2018. He missed Edmonton’s 2020 visit to South Florida duet a quad injury.

Draisaitl (one goal) is in second place at 74 points.

Saturday’s other big star was Koskinen, who made 44 saves — many of them on breakaways or odd-man rushes — to earn the victory.

“He made some unbelievable saves,” Panthers interim coach Andrew Brunette said. “He was excellent.”

Unfortunately for the Panthers, they have not been excellent of late, dropping their third consecutive home game. They still lead the NHL in home wins (23-6-0), but this slump is concerning.

“I think we play hard,” Brunette said. “But we lose focus on some little details. Those little momentum swings have gone our way all season — but not this week.”

The three-game losing streak is Florida’s longest in more than two months, since Dec. 12-16.

“It’s a good learning experience,” Brunette said. “Every little play counts. We haven’t learned all week.”

Aleksander Barkov led Florida on Saturday with two goals, both on the power play. Rookie Anton Lundell also scored.

Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 18 saves, was outplayed and lost his second straight game. He has been excellent overall this season with a 26-6-3 record.

Edmonton opened the scoring with 10:14 expired in the first period. On a two-on-one rush, Warren Foegele made a lateral pass to his right to Ryan, who slipped the puck in between Bobrovsky’s pads.

Thirty seconds later, Bobrovsky stopped a McDavid breakaway in the goalie’s best play. of the day.

With 11:50 gone in the first, Florida tied the score after a spectacular pass. After Sam Reinhart’s shot was stopped, Frank Vatrano gathered the short rebound and slipped a blind back pass between his legs and between the legs of Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard to Lundell, who lifted the puck over Koskinen’s stick.

“Frankie saw me behind his back,” Lundell said.

After Draisaitl was penalized for tripping Sam Bennett, Florida took a 2-1 lead on Barkov’s power-play goal with 16:38 expired in the first. Prior to the goal, Anthony Duclair stretched Edmonton’s defense when his shot hit the left post, and Barkov swept the rebound under a diving Koskinen’s right arm.

Edmonton tied the score 2-2 with 12:31 left in the second as Ryan – again on a rush -- snapped a wrist shot over Bobrovsky’s glove.

The Oilers took a 3-2 lead on a power-play goal with 9:56 left in the second as Draisaitl’s shot deflected in off the body of Panthers defenseman Radko Gudas.

Edmonton stretched its lead to 4-2 on a wild sequence. Koskinen stoned Mason Marchment on one end, and the Oilers raced back and got Ryan’s tap-in goal on a great pass from Evander Kane.

Koskinen then took over. His glove robbed Carter Verhaeghe on a breakaway with 10:21 left in the third.

With 4:22 left, Koskinen gloved Barkov’s point-blank shot.

“Lots of credit to their goalie,” Barkov said. “He played unreal. He was the biggest reason for their win.”

Barkov’s second goal, this one with 3:51 left, cut Florida’s deficit to 4-3, but the Panthers could not get the equalizer.

“We had our chances, but we didn’t get that second effort,” Barkov said. “Not enough guys at the net. Not enough rebounds.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2022 at 6:25 PM.