Brad Marchand scored on a breakaway in double overtime and the defending champion Florida Panthers punched back against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of their Stanley Cup final rematch, winning 5-4 on Friday night to even the series.
Each of the first two games this final have gone to overtime, for the first time since 2014 and just the sixth in NHL history.
Along with Marchand, Sam Bennett scored his postseason-leading 13th goal and NHL record 12th on the road.
Marchand’s OT goal was his 10th career goal in the final to lead all active players.
There were a lot of those – 10 in total – after officials whistled 14 penalties, including three in the first four minutes.
The defending champion Florida Panthers fought back against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of their Stanley Cup final rematch, winning 5-4 on Friday night to tie the series after Brad Marchand scored on a breakaway in double overtime.
Stuart Skinner pulled for an extra attacker after Corey Perry tied the score with 17:08 seconds remaining in the third period, but Marchand’s second goal of the evening 8:04 into the second overtime allowed Florida to escape with a split. For just the sixth time in NHL history, and for the first time since 2014, both of the first two games in this final have gone to overtime.
Similar to the previous season and the current playoff run, Sergei Bobrovsky was at his best when it counted most, making some incredible saves and blocking 42 of 46 shots he faced. His teammates gave him the goal support he needed.
Sam Bennett scored his NHL record 12th goal on the road and his postseason-leading 13th goal alongside Marchand. Following some incredible tic tac toe passing, Seth Jones scored into a wide-open net. Dmitry Kulikov, another defenseman, tied the score with a shot through traffic that Stuart Skinner most likely missed.
After Florida dominated play for a number of minutes in the second, hemming Edmonton in its zone shift after shift and building up a 34–13 lead in shot attempts during that time, Kulikov scored the game’s second goal. Marchand led all active players in the final with his OT goal, his tenth goal overall.
On Monday evening, the teams will travel across the continent and play shifts to Sunrise in Game 3.
After winning Game 1 in overtime and claiming they won’t give up easily against Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, the Panthers stole home-ice advantage from the Oilers by splitting the first two games. They also looked like they would stop at nothing to win the Cup for the first time.
Naturally, those celebrities had their moments. After coach Kris Knoblauch put them on the ice together, they helped Evan Bouchard score, and McDavid scored on the power play after stickhandling past several defenders in a highlight-reel fashion.
There were ten of those in all, following the whistle-calling of 14 penalties, three of which occurred in the first four minutes. Though most of that evened out over the game, each team had a few calls that it did not like.
