2025 Stanley Cup Final
Stanley Cup Final got Ugly Between Panthers and Oilers in a Hurry
SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers know each other quite well now having played each other in the Stanley Cup Final the past two years.
Those who were expecting things to get ugly in this rematch had to nod their head in a ‘told you so’ third period in Game 3 on Monday night.
The Panthers and Oilers got drilled with 122 minutes of penalties in the final period — many of which of the game-misconduct variety with a fourth-line brawl the headliner — in a game that got away from the Oilers in a big way.
While the Panthers do not mind slogging through the mud, that’s not Edmonton’s game.
They tried to play that way when things went south in Game 3. What had been a razor-thin series did not go the Oilers way on Monday and they tried to pull the bully card.
The Panthers just laughed it off.
And, after their 6-1 win in Game 3, why not?
The Panthers now hold a 2-1 series lead in a best-of-7 series in which they seemingly did not have to do much to suck the Oilers into the muck.
Forget momentum.
The Panthers may just be firmly implanted in Edmonton’s psyche now.
“The third period was an unraveling,’’ Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I think the game was out of hand. I don’t think we would’ve acted or played like that had the game been a one-goal or a two-goal game.
“I think our guys were just trying to, I don’t know, boys being boys — just trying to make investments for the next game. The first period, obviously the four penalties, which is way too many. We shouldn’t have those. But I kind of question some of those penalties.”
That is where it started: Questioning penalties that were of the dumb variety.
Edmonton did not play a good game, nor did they play a smart one.
The Oilers were lucky it was only 2-0 after the first period, and extremely fortunate that Corey Perry made it 2-1 on a power play early in the second.
But then Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett scored a couple of quick goals to make it 4-1 and the Oilers all but quit.
Save for playing the tough-guy role late in the second and into the third.
Yeah, it got ugly.
There was a line brawl in the third with Jonah Gadjovich and Darnell Nurse ignoring those officials around them as they slugged it out as other skirmishes broke out following a rough cross-check from Trent Frederic on Bennett.
One fan poured her beverage on Kasperi Kapanen when he got tossed in the third and was coming down the tunnel and into the visitors’ room that the Oilers certainly do not enjoy visiting after last year’s Game 7 loss.
It even looked like one spirited fan couldn’t find a rubber rat at Dollar Tree and flung a really deceased rodent onto the ice, leaving a streak of crimson which looked like blood.
Turns out, it was a very real looking toy rat with a bottle of ketchup attached to it.
Fun night, eh?
“If you don’t show up, teams are going to hurt you,’’ said Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner, who was given the mercy pull after Aaron Ekblad made it 5-1 on a slick, backhanded pass from Reinhart in the third.
“You can play anybody in the NHL. It’s a good league. We know that. We’ve experienced it tonight. We’ve experienced it many times before tonight, so we know what we’re going to be up against. It doesn’t change how we’re going to respond again. We’ve got two days to come back and I think there’s some things that we’re going to have to change.”
Monday night’s game, really, felt more like an old-school Saturday night minor league game at times with all that was going on.
Only this was the Stanley Cup Final.
And, the Panthers went away smiling.
How tough is it to play against the Panthers?
“I don’t know. I haven’t played against the Panthers,” Sasha Barkov said. “We were good today, ready for anything.”
This series is far from over.
But the ease in which the Panthers pulled Edmonton out of its game has to be of concern especially when you have Evander Kane — who had a pair of bad penalties in the first — complaining that the refs only had eyes for the Oilers.
This came after Brad Marchand opened things up 56 seconds into the game fueling an already fired up crowd in Sunrise.
“You look at some of the calls,’’ Kane said. “Obviously some of them are frustrating. They seem to get away with it more than we do. It’s tough to find the line. They’re doing just as much stuff as we are.”
Said Marchand, who has four goals in the series: “I think emotions in all of these games are extremely high. And obviously this is the time you’re playing and you’re enjoying every minute. So it doesn’t really matter what happened tonight, we both have to reset, and we’re ready for the next one now.”
Even Knoblauch was complaining about a non-call in overtime of Game 2 when talking about a too-many-men penalty called in the first period in which his team had two many men on the ice.
The most nearsighted official was going to call that.
“The referees did an outstanding job,’’ Knoblach said, scanning the room. “They even caught the too many men penalty in the first. They caught us there. I just wish they had been calling the game in Game 2 in overtime.”
Perhaps, if they did, this series might have a different feel.
But it does not.
The Panthers are right where they want to be. The Oilers need to find a way to steal one Thursday and head home tied.
“Look, we didn’t play very well,’’ Kane said. “That’s evident. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We can definitely be a lot better.”
2025 STANLEY CUP FINAL
GAME 4
EDMONTON OILERS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS
Florida Leads Best-of-7 Series 2-1
- When: Thursday, 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 6, Edmonton 1; Game 4: @Florida, Thursday; Game 5: @Edmonton Saturday; 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
BahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaahhaahahahahahahahsvdidnqvxabvagagAha! EDM is soft as Charmin and can’t fathom a team not genuflecting in their general direction.
Knobhead complains about the “missed” too many men in OT. Well he would since it appears that penalties in OT is the only way they can win. Try getting a lead in a game and not relying on the refs for help.
This guy is the reason the Oilers lost thier composure, when your coach is making excuses, the players do the same. He said in his post game presser that the game was over after the third goal…huh, what? That’s only a two goal lead, with almost half a game left, yet he thought the game was out of reach? That seems crazy to me.
What gets lost in all the discussion is the Panthers may not have had their best game in game 1 but they still went to OT and only lost after giving up a stupid delay of game penalty, causing us to go down to 5 on 4 in OT. Since that moment, the Oilers have not beaten us yet the national media and Oiler fans act like they somehow are on the same level as the Panthers. And we are given no credit for the skill and talent we have. It’s all about how we play dirty and how they… Read more »