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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
EDMONTON, Alberta — Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final after the Edmonton Oilers scored five times against him.
Bobrovsky was sent to the bench 4:59 into the second period after Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse beat him clearly for Edmonton’s fifth goal, making it 5-1. Backup goalie Anthony Stolarz entered the game, making his first career playoff appearance.
The Panthers are up 3-0 in the series and have a chance to raise the Stanley Cup in a sweep Saturday night.
Bobrovsky gave up the five goals on 16 shots by the Oilers. He had given up four goals in the previous three games of the Final.
The Florida goaltender entered Game 4 with a .953 save percentage, having been an outstanding last line of defense when the Panthers would make a miscue. But he couldn’t bail them out Saturday, as it was Florida’s mistakes that ended up in the back of the net in this game.
Mattias Janmark scored at 3:11 of the first period on an odd-man rush short-handed. Adam Henrique tipped a Janmark pass past Bobrovsky for a 2-0 lead at 7:48. After Vladimir Tarasenko cut the lead to 2-1, Edmonton forward Dylan Holloway beat Bobrovsky to the glove side on a perfect feed from center Leon Draisaitl — his first point of the series — at 14:48 of the first period to make it 3-1.
Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the series and sixth of the playoffs just 1:13 into the second period. Nurse finally chased Bobrovsky with his first goal of the playoffs on a clean look from the slot.
At 24:53 of ice time, this was the second-shortest start of Bobrovsky’s playoff career. His previous low mark for ice time was in 2011 when he gave up three goals on seven shots for the Philadelphia Flyers in his second career playoff start.
Before Game 4, the Oilers were confident they could rally while facing elimination.
“We have a strong belief in our group,” forward Zach Hyman said. “People have counted us out the entire year, and the odds say that we won’t win, right? That’s what the all the statistics and the odds say, but the odds said that we weren’t going to make the playoffs at American Thanksgiving, and multiple times in these playoffs we’ve been down. I think we play our best when our backs are against the wall and facing elimination. We’re just thinking about winning one game.”