It wasn’t a must win game, November games typically aren’t, but this was one of those games where a loss would just feel so much worse. The Oilers have lost to the Panthers in back to back Stanley Cup finals, and were also on a three game losing streak.

Well not anymore. Edmonton thoroughoughly out played the Florida Panthers for a 6-3 routing that sent most Panthers fans back to the parking lot before the final buzzer had rung.

Right off the bat Edmonton scored 23 seconds into the game. Bouchard kept the puck at the blue line and found a pass to Roslovic, who threw a muffin shot that had no right going in, straight through Sergei Bobrovsky.

The Panthers struck back with a wraparound pass to Anton Lundell who forced the puck in under Stuart Skinner’s pads. Edmonton pondered whether to challenge for goaltender interference, but cautioned against it.

Jack Roslovic and Evan Bouchard extended the lead again – this time Roslovic beat Bobrovsky bar down after generating speed and space at the right faceoff dot while the Panthers were too busy four-manning Connor McDavid.

Tension boiled over not soon after culminating in a fight between Trent Frederic and A.J. Greer. Greer went for a bizarre two leg takedown move, and Frederic responded by feeding Greer right hooks until the refs pulled him off. Greer was given a 10-minute misconduct for the dangerous takedown. Edmonton couldn’t score on the powerplay, but the Panthers were scrambling as they came back to even strength. Darnell Nurse fired a shot from the blue line that rebounded into the slot and Ekholm was there to secure Edmonton’s third goal of the night.

Vasiliy Podkolzin scored the game winner with a tight angle shot over Bobrovsky’s shoulder. The bad angle goal was one-too-many for Paul Maurice, and Bobrovsky was pulled from net and relieved of his duties by Daniil Tarasov – who actually proceeded to save all 12 shots that he would face.

The Panthers found their own goal right after a power play with a slapshot from Mackie Samoskevich. Skinner had to make a quick lateral save but couldn’t quite seal the post before the slapshot had already rocketed past. Florida scored their final goal off the powerplay on a rebound shot from Sam Reinhart. Ty Emberson attempted and failed to clear the puck which allowed Reinhart an easy wrist shot goal.

But that was the end of the Florida Panthers’ comeback story. Edmonton shut down the Panthers for the entire third period. Florida had a five alarm Grade AAA chance against Edmonton after Skinner made a huge save; the puck bounced towards Jesper Boqvist who had a wide open net and a down-and-out Stuart Skinner, but before Boqvist could take a shot Connor McDavid laid a huge hit that bowled him over into the boards.

After that it was no contest. The Panthers pulled Tarasov, and McDavid intercepted the puck before Tarasov could even make it past the gate. Florida pulled Tarasov again in a desperate attempt to save the game, but Matt Savoie put away a sixth goal to send the Panthers and all of Amerant Bank Arena packing home.

With a win over Florida the Edmonton Oilers complete their seven game road trip with a 3-3-1 record, securing 7 of a possible 14 points – for their longest road trip of the year, it could be much worse. More importantly though is the Oilers played a huge game against Florida. The Saturday affair was easily the best hockey Edmonton has played since July. It’s always good to run a goalie out of the building, and it’s even better when they’re a goalie whose had your number on more than one occasion.

Bouchard and Roslovic willed Edmonton’s early lead into existence, and the rest of the team put their heads down and worked to make sure the Oilers kept that lead. Skinner ended the night with an impressive 0.921. Ten different Oilers recorded themselves on the scoresheet.

All in all a good night for Edmonton.

The Oilers will play the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, and then take a three day break for some much needed rest.