If the first two games of this series have proved anything, it’s that this Cup Final is going to be a stressful watch for both fanbases. It’s taken three games’ worth of hockey to play two, as both games have gone into overtime on the back of Florida allowing Edmonton to tie the game in the third. The Panthers were 17 seconds away from locking up the regulation win when Perry tied the game for the Oilers. Overtime wasn’t enough, so things went into double OT where the Cats’ third line stepped up in a big moment with Brad Marchand scoring the game winner on a breakaway. Forsling had some massive saves by blocking shots and having an excellent stick. He currently leads the postseason in blocked shots at 30. The first period felt like an eternity with the plethora of penalties and enough goals scored to fill an entire game. The Panthers dominated the second period and finally ended things in double overtime. But we don’t ask how, just that the Cats win, and they did the job of getting the split in Edmonton.
Opening Period Chaos:
What’s even-strength hockey? That was the burning question in the first period because there were 11 penalties given out. Some of the calls were fine, while others were downright egregiously bad. An early high-sticking penalty on Kane led to Sam Bennett once again scoring to break the ice. Rodrigues made a great pass back to Schmidt, who then found Bennett for the one-timer. Sam has now set an NHL record for most goals on the road in a single postseason at 12 and has a Panther franchise record of five straight road games with a goal. Kane eventually got it back about five minutes later to tie the game, and a goal from Bouchard two minutes after that gave Edmonton the lead. You’d like Bobrovsky to make a save on one of those goals, but by the time things were all said and done, he was excellent and made more than one huge game-saving play. Seth Jones tied it back up two minutes later. Schmidt worked his way around pressure to find Luostarinen. Eetu then saw that Jones was open on the far side of the ice and made a fantastic pass to Seth, who put it in the open net. With Tkachuk and Bennett in the box, the Oilers had a 5v3 powerplay, which they converted into a goal from Draisaitl and a 2-3 lead heading out of the opening period. There has been debate online around the Bennett goalie interference. To my eye, it looked like Ekholm pushed Sam toward the blue paint, and then Bennett got tangled up with Skinner from there. Five goals and 11 penalties are normally enough to fill an entire game, and as much as people have complained about a rematch, one thing you can’t say is that it hasn’t delivered on being entertaining hockey.
All Panthers In The Second:
Florida’s consistently been an excellent team during the long change, and for the second straight game, the Cats dominated the Oilers in the middle frame. Kulikov’s wrister from the point tied the game roughly eight and a half minutes into the period, with Verhaeghe and Jones getting the assists. The shot found its way through traffic and beat Skinner, making it two defensemen who scored for the Cats. After a hot start to the season scoring short-handed, Florida hasn’t accomplished that since December. But for Marchand, it’s something he’s done before in the same scenario. On June 6th, 2011, he scored short-handed for the Bruins in the Cup Final. Now, on June 6th, 2025, he scored short-handed for the Panthers in the Cup Final. A great play by Brad kept the puck along the boards as the Oilers were entering the zone. Then Lundell got a stick on it to free the puck and was on it before Edmonton could find it. Anton then made a great pass up the ice to Marchand, who was already in the neutral zone close to the Oilers’ blue line, creating a breakaway. Marchand stick handled and then put the puck in 5-hole to give the Cats their first lead of the night. They locked it down for the remaining eight minutes and took a 4-3 lead into the third.
Late Heartbreak, 2OT Hero:
Defending a one-goal lead for a full twenty minutes is extremely difficult to do, especially against such a high-powered offense like the Oilers. It was a feat that Panther fans saw them do last season in Game 7, and they nearly did it again in Game 2, but too many icings finally bit them as Perry tied the game with just 17 seconds on the clock. I know Florida is a sound defensive team despite the high-scoring affairs that the first two games have been. But I’d like to see them get a bit more aggressive offensively when Edmonton goes for a big push if they’re down going into the final frame. Despite letting in a goal so late, Matthew Tkachuk said that the vibe in the dressing room was great, that there were guys hooting and hollering and predicting who’d score the game winner. HC Paul Maurice said that he was happy with Florida’s game for most of the match, but didn’t like their first OT period, so that’ll be the focus for improvement. Despite the rough first OT, it was Brad Marchand again on the breakaway to end things and get the series split. Lundell once again got the puck up the ice to Marchand to create the breakaway opportunity. Brad became the first player in NHL history to score a short-handed goal and an overtime winner, and he leads the league for most goals in the Cup Final among active players. Bobrovsky also set an NHL record, becoming the first goalie to have back-to-back 40+ save games to start the Cup Final—the series heads to Sunrise for Game 3 on Monday.
ITR 44: We Have A Champion…Again – Inside The Rink
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