Brad Marchand had a pair of goals, including the winner in the second overtime, as the Florida Panthers evened their Stanley Cup final rematch with Edmonton, defeating the Oilers 5-4 in a wild Game 2 on Friday.
“Each game could have went either way,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the loss.
“Obviously, when you win the first one you’re disappointed when you don’t follow up and win the second one. But we’re going there with a split and that’s fine with us. We’re comfortable playing on the road. We’ve won a lot of games, so far, in the regular season and the playoffs — so we’ll get ready for Game 3.”
Marchand got a breakaway and was able to sneak a backhand shot through Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner’s legs 8:05 into the second overtime.
Sam Bennett, Seth Jones and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for the Panthers, who improved to 9-3 on the road in post-season play.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 42 saves to register the win in the Florida net.
Evander Kane, Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry replied for the Oilers who had a five-game win streak snapped and dropped to 7-2 at home.
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Skinner made 37 saves in the loss.
Florida started the scoring 2:07 into the opening period on an early power play as Nate Schmidt fed it across to Bennett and he deposited his 13th of the playoffs into the net before Skinner could get across, setting a new NHL record for road goals in a single post-season with 12.
The Oilers tied it at 7:39 of the first frame as Kane was sprung on a partial breakaway and beat Bobrovsky up high with a shot that went off the post and in for his sixth of the playoffs.
Edmonton then surged in front less than two minutes later with the teams playing four aside as Connor McDavid dropped it back to Bouchard and he got the rebound of his own blocked shot and then sent it past Bobrovsky from distance for his seventh.
Florida knotted the game back up with just over eight minutes to play in the frantic first as Eetu Luostarinen made a nice pass across to Jones, who had a wide-open net to rifle in his fourth of the playoffs.
Edmonton jumped back in front a minute later after Bennett was sent off for goaltender interference after landing heavily on Skinner’s right leg in a play reminiscent of the challenged goal in Game 1, as McDavid made a couple of incredible moves before passing it to Draisaitl who scored his 10th of the playoffs and third of the finals after being held without a goal in last year’s final.
“Every game is tight at this time of year,” Draisaitl said.
“Two really good teams, so it’s never going to be easy. Regroup and get ready for Game 3.”
It was the highest scoring first period in a final since 2016.
Florida made it 3-3 at 7:23 of the second period as a Kulikov shot went off of Bouchard and then the post and in for his second.
The Panthers took the lead with 7:51 to play in the middle period as Marchand sent it through Skinners’ legs on a short-handed breakaway for his sixth.
The game looked like it was over, but Edmonton engineered another comeback, scoring with just 18 seconds left in the third period and their goalie pulled as Perry found the puck in a mad scramble in front and managed to bang in his eighth of the playoffs to send the game to extra time.
Florida had the best chances in the first overtime, with Marchand sliding a puck under Skinner only to hit the post and be fished to safety by John Klingberg, as well as Sam Reinhart missing the net on a clear breakaway.
UP NEXT
Game 3 takes place on Monday in Florida.
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