MarchLand: Panthers Beat Oilers in 2OT in Game 2, Tie Cup Final

After a wild start to Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Florida Panthers put together a dominating second period against the Edmonton Oilers.

Only the Oilers got a late goal from Corey Perry to force yet another overtime.

When the dust settled, the Panthers evened the best-of-7 series with a 5-4 double-overtime win over the Oilers in Game 2 of a Stanley Cup Final that already has ‘instant classic’ written all over it.

Brad Marchand gave the Panthers the lead in the second — then won it 8:05 into the second overtime in a game that leaked into Saturday morning on the east coast.

Marchand told TNT he did not remember if he got a full shot on Stuart Skinner or not.

Didn’t care, either.

“You know, to be honest, I blacked out,’’ Marchand said. “I don’t even know. It’s just obviously a fortuitous bounce, and we’ll take it.’’

The Final moves to South Florida with Game 3 in Sunrise on Monday night.

Sam Bennett got the scoring started as this year’s playoff goal-scoring leader kicked away Mattias Ekholm’s stick along the boards then cut to the net and scored off a feed from Nate Schmidt.

Edmonton led 2-1 before Seth Jones tied it.

The Oilers closed the first thanks to a questionable power play; with Bennett in the box for ‘goalie interference,’ Connor McDavid worked his magic to get the puck to Leon Draisaitl.

“I was pushed and then I think the goalie kicked out my heel,’’ Bennett said. “So, I didn’t agree with that one, but I’ll move on from that.”

Things got away from the Panthers at the end of the first, but Edmonton failed to score anything else despite having an extended power play chance — including 33 seconds of 5-on-3 time.

Florida turned things around in the second despite even more penalties coming on both sides and outshot the Oilers 16-7 in a period in which the Panthers outscored Edmonton 2-0 and took a 4-3 lead into the third.

The Panthers tied the score on a point shot from Dmitry Kulikov, then took the lead back on a shorty from Marchand.

It was Marchand’s second shorthanded goal in a Cup Final — and it came exactly 14 years after he beat Roberto Luongo in the 2011 series between the Bruins and Canucks.

“Favorite player of all time,’’ Luongo tweeted after Marchand won it.

“Obviously Lu is awesome,’’ Marchand said. “He’s an incredible person. Happy to be on the team.”

Florida clamped down in the third, but on Edmonton’s ninth and final shot of the period with Skinner on the bench, Perry scored on a loose puck in the slot to force the second overtime of the series.

Perry’s game-tying goal came with 17.8 seconds left on the clock.

Florida had a couple of big chances in the first OT.

With 11:20 left, Marchand’s backhanded shot on a downed Skinner went off the post.

Sam Reinhart then had a hard shot stopped from the right circle, with Skinner then stopping Jones’ try on the rebound with 9:05 remaining.

Reinhart also missed on a breakaway chance with 4:30 left.

On the Edmonton side, it seemed every time the Oilers had a chance, Gus Forsling was there to snuff it out.

SCF GAME 2: PANTHERS at OILERS

• Aaron Ekblad appeared to injure his left hand at 4:15 of the second overtime after blocking a Darnell Nurse point shot; the puck hit him right in the top of his glove. He did return to the game, but this is something to keep an eye on.
• Bennett set the NHL record with his 12th road goal in a single playoff run, surpassing Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele from 2018. Bennett has a franchise-record five-game road goal streak going and has scored in 10 of Florida’s 12 road playoff games this season.
• The first period was the highest-scoring first in a Final game since San Jose and Pittsburgh combined for five goals in 2016. The record for most goals in the first period of a Final game is six.
• The five goals in the first 12:07 was the first Final game with that many goals before the 13-minute mark since 1992 and third all-time.
• Kulikov got Florida’s 17th goal by a defenseman this postseason; Edmonton got 18 from d-men last year.
• Marchand’s 10 goals in the Final led all active players; Marchand is the second player 37 or older to score in each of the first two games of a Stanley Cup Final, joining Larry Robinson who did so in 1989.
• Perry scored the latest tying goal in a Final besting Tod Sloan (19:28) in 1951.

GAME 2 SCORING: PANTHERS / OILERS

• Florida 1, Edmonton 0 (2:07 1st PP): Sam Bennett gets his NHL-record 12th playoff road goal off another slick pass from Nate Schmidt.
• Edmonton 1, Florida 1 (7:39 1st): Evander Kane comes in off the rush and beats Sergei Bobrovsky from the left circle.
• Edmonton 2, Florida 1 (9:19 1st 4/4): Evan Bouchard gets his shot from the high slot blocked by Sasha Barkov but the puck ends up right back on his stick and he zips one past Bobrovsky with Sam Reinhart in front.
• Florida 2, Edmonton 2 (11:37 1st): Schmidt creates a turnover inside the blueline, gets the puck to Carter Verhaeghe who crosses the ice to find Seth Jones at the netfront.
• Edmonton 3, Florida 2 (12:37 1st PP): With Bennett in the box for a questionable goalie interference call, Connor McDavid slips through the Florida D and feeds Leon Draisaitl on the right side of the net.
• Florida 3, Edmonton 3 (8:23 2nd): Florida’s sustained zone time finally pays off with a point shot from Dmitry Kulikov through traffic and off Bouchard. Matthew Tkachuk runs blocker.
• Florida 4, Edmonton 3 (12:09 2nd SH): Anton Lundell finds a streaking Brad Marchand in the neutral zone and he goes five-hole on Stuart Skinner.
• Edmonton 4, Florida 4 (19:42 3rd): With the net empty, Corey Perry forces overtime by banging through a puck in traffic.
• Florida 5, Edmonton 4 (8:05 2OT): Marchand does it again for the Panthers.

FHN’S 3 STARS OF GAME 2

• 1. Brad Marchand, Florida
• 2. Gus Forsling, Florida
• 3. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida

2025 STANLEY CUP FINAL

GAME 3

EDMONTON OILERS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS

Best-of-7 Series Tied 1-1

• When: Monday, 8 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• National TV: TNT/truTV 
• National Streaming: Max
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys), SiriusXM
• Radio Streaming: SiriusXM, NHL App
• Series Schedule (all games at 8 p.m., TNT) — Game 1: @Edmonton 4, Florida 3 (OT); Game 2: Florida 5, @Edmonton 4 (2OT); Game 3: @Florida Monday; Game 4: @Florida, Thursday; Game 5: @Edmonton, Saturday June 14; Game 6*: @Florida, Tuesday June 17; Game 7*: @Edmonton, Friday June 20.
• How They Got Here: Edmonton d. Los Angeles (6), Vegas (5), Dallas (5); Florida d. Tampa Bay (5), Toronto (7), Carolina (5)
• Postseason History: Florida Won 2024 Stanley Cup Final 4-3
• Regular Season: Panthers won 2-0
• All-time Regular Season Series: Oilers lead 23-18-0, 3 ties