Panthers shrug off Game 4 rout with eye to finishing off Oilers in Florida

Despite being blown out 8-1 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final, the Florida Panthers still have their collective fingers around the Edmonton Oilers' throats.

They may not have swept the best-of-seven Cup final, but they're heading back to Sunrise, Fla., with a three games to one lead.

"It's all about us and the team to manage the losses," said Panthers centre Aleksander Barkov, who was a minus-2 in Saturday's lopsided setback. "It only counts as one win, it doesn't matter how much you lose, 2-1 or 8-1 — or you win 2-1 or 8-1.

"Obviously, we need to bounce back and recover now and think about the next one."

While the Panthers got outworked in Game 4, they were quick to point out that the goal was to earn a split in Edmonton — which they did. The 4-3 win in Thursday's Game 3 gave the Panthers a stranglehold on the series. And, after a long flight back to the Miami area, they know they can skate the Cup around in front of their own fans at Amerant Bank Arena.

It's a cliche, but it's true: If you'd have asked the Panthers last week if they'd be happy with a 3-1 lead in the series, to a man they'd have said yes.

WATCH l Nurse ends Bobrovsky's night in Game 4 rout:

"At the end of the day, it's back to the drawing board," said Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, who was penalized in the second period for delivering a series of punches to star Edmonton forward Connor McDavid's face. "We win, we learn from it. We put it aside. We lose, same thing.

"We're in an unbelievable spot right now. We came here, after all that craziness, and got a split, and we're going home in front of our unbelievable fans that are so excited to see us. And we're so excited to play in front of them again."

Rewind to 2021, the last time a Canadian team