Panthers outplay Oilers 5-2, for 3-2 lead in Stanley Cup final – Edmonton

Connor McDavid had Sergei Bobrovsky at his mercy.

Edmonton’s superstar captain chipped a rebound from the side of the net toward Florida’s off-balance goaltender that somehow stayed out as part of Saturday’s early surge.

The Panthers, as they have so often over the last three springs, steadied themselves and pushed back.

Now the Oilers sit in a familiar spot — facing elimination in the Stanley Cup final.

Brad Marchand scored twice to give him a series-leading six goals and Sam Bennett buried his NHL playoff-leading 15th as Florida defeated Edmonton 5-2 to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven matchup.

“Chasing the game over and over against a team like this, it’s very difficult,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, whose group has been outscored 11-4 through five first periods after falling behind 2-0 early Saturday. “They took advantage of some opportunities. At the end of the day, we didn’t and it ends up being a difference.”

Sam Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen, into the empty net to go along with an assist, had the other goals for the defending champs.

Bobrovsky made 19 saves for the Panthers, who can clinch a second straight Cup win over the Oilers after falling to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023 when the series shifts back to Sunrise, Fla., for Game 6 on Tuesday.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Bennett said. “We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. It’s going to be the hardest game. We know that. The job’s not done yet. A lot more work to do.”

Game 7, if necessary, would be back in Edmonton on Friday.

Bennett and Marchand are the first players since 1981 with at least five goals each in the same final, and the first teammates to do so since 1973.

“We’re just enjoying the moment,” Marchand said. “It’s a special time, special memories we’re gonna have forever.”

The 37-year-old is also the first player to register six goals in a final since 1988.

“When you need guys to step up, time and time again he’s there to produce,” Reinhart said.

McDavid and Corey Perry replied for the Oilers. Calvin Pickard stopped 14 shots.

McDavid and fellow star centre Leon Draisaitl were not made available to reporters post-game.

“We’ve come out flat now most of the series — it’s a mindset,” Edmonton defenceman Mattias Ekholm said. “They’re a good team for a reason. They’ve come out and showed that early in the games and we have to find a way to be better at the start.”

The Oilers don’t have much time.

“We’re a team that can find a way to come back,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “But it’s not always going to happen.”

Edmonton trailed Florida 3-0 in last year’s final only to battle back with three straight victories to force a winner-take-all finale the club lost 2-1.

McDavid had that early chance and another decent look inside an electric Rogers Place — the raucous, well-lubricated weekend crowd hit 113.4 decibels when the home side touched the ice ahead of puck drop — before the Panthers pounced.

Marchand was quickest off a faceoff at centre and then blew past Ekholm before firing his ninth of the playoffs off the post and in at 9:12.

The trade deadline acquisition from the Boston Bruins now has 12 goals in his four appearances in the final to become the seventh player in the post-expansion era to reach that number. He’s also the second player since 1967-68 to have at least five goals in multiple finals after scoring that many in 2011 with the Boston Bruins to join Mario Lemieux (1991 and 1992).

The Oilers went to the power play later in the period, but a disjointed and timid sequence resulted in little zone time and no shots on Bobrovsky.

Florida doubled its lead moments later when Bennett fired past Pickard, who got the start ahead of Stuart Skinner following his 23-save performance off the bench in Edmonton’s dramatic 5-4 overtime victory in Game 4, after Matthew Tkachuk’s initial shot was blocked at 18:06.

Bennett is the fourth active player to have at least 15 goals in a single playoff, joining Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby and injured Oilers forward Zach Hyman.

“There’s a connectedness you feel as a group,” Edmonton blueliner Darnell Nurse said. “We’ve had it for moments over the course of this series, but it wasn’t there tonight.”

Edmonton went back to the man advantage in the second period, but Bobrovsky denied both Nugent-Hopkins and Perry before McDavid hit the post.

Marchand made it 3-0 at 5:12 of the third when he undressed Edmonton defenceman Jack Walman and slid home his 10th past Pickard.

McDavid gave the home side some life at 7:24 with a shake-and-back move on Bobrovsky for his seventh of the playoffs and first of the final. But Reinhart put things to bed 46 seconds later when he snapped home his seventh.

Perry nabbed a consolation goal with 3:13 left in regulation and Pickard on the bench for an extra attacker in an Edmonton push that came far too late before Luostarinen iced it into the empty net to push the Oilers to the brink — and another heartbreaking end.

“We’ve got to win one game,” Nurse said. “That’s all you can control. You don’t look at it any other way. We’ve got to go to Florida, bring our best effort.”

“And try to win one game.”

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