Florida Panthers’ Brad Marchand scores on Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner in Game 2 double-overtime.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The Florida Panthers evened their Stanley Cup Final series with the Edmonton Oilers at one win apiece on Friday with a 5-4 victory in double-overtime at Rogers Place.
Brad Marchand had the winning goal on a breakaway with 11:55 left in the second extra period. Marchand also scored short-handed in the third.
“It was a very intense game,” Marchand said. “It was a good one to win. When I scored in overtime, I felt a lot of excitement and adrenaline for our whole group.”
Marchand broke free and put a short backhand past Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner.
“Our whole bench stood up,” said Sam Bennett, who scored in the first period for the Panthers. “It was a huge play at a huge time.”
The Panthers had led 4-3 until 40-year-old Corey Perry scored for Edmonton with 19 seconds remaining in the third period.
“We were disappointed they tied it up like that,” Marchand said.
Bennett, Seth Jones and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for the Panthers. Evander Kane, Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Perry found the back of the net for Edmonton.
Sergei Bobrovsky had 42 saves for the Panthers, while Stuart Skinner of the Oilers stopped 37 of 42 shots.
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Edmonton won Game 1 on Wednesday in overtime on a goal by Draisaitl. The Oilers were 4-0 in extra time during the playoffs before Friday.
The Panthers hope to repeat as the NHL champions after eliminating the Oilers in seven games in the final round last year.
The Oilers have won the Stanley Cup five times but not since 1990. No Canadian team has claimed it since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.
Games 3 and 4 are in Sunrise, Fla., on Monday and Thursday.
A wild, scrappy penalty-filled first period found the Oilers headed to the intermission with a 3-2 lead.
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The teams combined for 11 penalties in the first 20 minutes and seven power plays with one goal scored by each club during a man advantage. Bennett scored early in the first and Draisiatl countered with Bennett in the box for goalie interference.
Florida took over in a dominant second period. Kulikov tied it at 3-3 when he snapped a puck past Skinner with 11:37 before the intermission. Then the Oilers made a critical error, coughing up the puck and allowing a short-handed goal by Marchand.
The Florida Panthers evened their championship final rematch with Edmonton, and defeated the Oilers 5-4 in a wild Game 2 on Friday
The Canadian Press
The Oilers lost the first two games of the opening series against the Los Angeles Kings but are 13-3 since then. Skinner, who was temporarily benched after those two defeats, is now 7-3 in the playoffs with three shutouts.
He had 29 saves in the Game 1 victory and was especially good in the third period and overtime.
“Being able to keep your team in it is my job and my goal,” he said. “When you see the results from that the feeling is amazing.”
The Oilers looked like they were about to lose in regulation time before Perry’s goal. The teams have now played more than 172 minutes in the first two games of their rematch. Five Florida players logged more than 30 minutes in ice time and three oilers did the same. Connor McDavid, who had three assists in the defeat, played a game-high 35 minutes seven seconds.
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Combined the teams took 88 shots, had 99 hits, took 92 face-offs, had 10 power plays, 14 penalties and 39 blocked shots.
Florida’s Aleksander Barkov went 24-19 on face-offs, while Draisaitl went 19-17 for Edmonton.
Kris Knoblauch, the Oilers coach, said he is satisfied to win one of the two games.
“We have the mentality no matter what happens to put it behind us,” Knoblauch said.
Marchand’s mother was at the game and celebrated when he scored the game winner.
Asked what kind of hockey mom she is, Marchand said, “She’s one you need to put a muzzle on. She gets pretty amped up at games.”