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The Florida Panthers thrashed the Edmonton Oilers 6-1 in a chaotic and violent Game 3 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, giving them a 2-1 lead in the series.
The game was characterized by constant scraps after the whistle, which descended into a full line brawl in the third period set off by Trent Frederic cross-checking Sam Bennett. That fight resulted in misconduct penalties that effectively ended the game for six players, and yet the remaining time still saw another 36 penalty minutes handed out.
Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett each scored for the third straight game in the series, while Florida also scored on three of its 11 (!) power plays.
Stuart Skinner was chased from the game after allowing five goals on 23 shots.
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Panthers score early and often in penalty-filled Game 3 rout of Oilers: Takeaways
No individual moment better encapsulated how physically imposing the Panthers were than the sight of Connor McDavid getting sent tumbling to the ice after Ekblad stepped up to deliver an open-ice hit at full flight.
McDavid was staggered by the contact at the Florida blue line just before the midway point of the game and briefly headed down the tunnel to the Oilers dressing room. He missed less than a minute of game time and played a regular shift after returning.
Still, it was a bit jarring to see someone catch the game’s fastest player so cleanly. Ekblad was one of the defenders McDavid walked through while setting up a dazzling Game 2 assist, prompting the Panthers defenseman to say “yeah, McJesus” while summing up the challenges of defending that play.
In Game 3, Ekblad made McDavid look mortal by sending him to the ice with a textbook body check delivered shoulder to shoulder. That was part of the game-high five hits he delivered through 40 minutes.
Florida’s game plan is built around a belief that the physical toll will eventually wear down an opponent over the course of a best-of-seven series. They were the aggressors in Monday’s game, highlighted by Bennett bowling over Podkolzin, among numerous other thunderous checks.
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The Panthers find themselves in a peculiar deployment predicament with Bennett and Marchand – their two hottest shooters – both part of the second power-play unit and seeing much less ice time with the man advantage as a result.
That is, until the PP1 sputtered early in Game 3, failing to get much going during three chances in the opening 12 minutes.
That prompted Panthers head coach Paul Maurice to send out PP2 to start the fourth power play. It clicked almost immediately: Verhaeghe went bar-down to make it 2-0, skating in from the flank to Skinner’s right after taking a pass from Rodrigues in the bumper.
The PP2 unit with Verhaeghe, Rodrigues, Bennett, Marchand and Schmidt started the next two power plays Florida received in the game. Ekblad scored a power-play goal in the third period as part of the usual PP1 formation featuring Seth Jones, Matthew Tkachuk, Reinhart and Barkov.
Verhaeghe and Bennett are tied for the team lead with four power-play goals during these playoffs.
Anton Lundell took a retaliatory penalty at the end of the first period with the Panthers up two and looking like the Oilers didn’t have a shot of a comeback in them.
That could have easily turned the momentum when Perry responded with a power-play goal at the start of the second period for his 10th career Stanley Cup Final goal to cut Florida’s deficit in half.
But for the third straight second period in the series, it was all Florida from then on. Just 80 seconds later, Reinhart scored his first goal of the series after Aleksander Barkov pressured John Klingberg off the puck.
About 4 ½ minutes after that, Bennett had a monster shift where he rocked Vasily Podkolzin and Klingberg, then beat Skinner on a breakaway after Luostarinen stole the puck from Podkolzin just inside the offensive blue line.
It wasn’t just that the Oilers took four penalties in the first period — it was how they took them. They were called for three offensive-zone fouls plus a too-many-men penalty.
Kane was sent to the box the first two times in the first eight minutes of the game and both trips were warranted. First, he cross-checked Gustav Forsling in the back in front of the Panthers net with the Oilers on a power play. Later he carelessly high-sticked Marchand on the forecheck. Kane was also in the mix as part of the too-many-men penalty.
Finally, Viktor Arvidsson was too aggressive around the crease and knocked over Bobrovsky. That led to a Verhaeghe goal on a Florida power play and a 2-0 deficit.
The Oilers wound up giving the Panthers 10 power plays and allowed them to score on two of them. It’s hard to win that way.
Marchand scored the Panthers’ two biggest goals of the playoffs with a couple overtime winners, and his hot streak in the Stanley Cup Final continued Monday night when it took him just 56 seconds to score the game’s first goal and his fourth of the series.
At 37, Marchand became the oldest player to score in the first three games of a Stanley Cup Final. The previous mark was held by 35-year-old Frank Mahovlich with the 1973 Canadiens.
Marchand now has 11 goals in his Stanley Cup Final career, the most amongst active players. It was his eighth goal of the postseason, tying Ray Sheppard for the third-most goals by a Panthers player in his first postseason with the club (Matthew Tkachuk, 11; Dave Lowry, 10).
After missing yesterday's practice and being labeled a game-time decision after today's optional morning skate by coach Kris Knoblauch, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins did, in fact, play in Game 3.
Nugent-Hopkins started the game on his usual (at least of late) spot on the top line with McDavid and Perry. He also had the Oilers’ best chance of the first period when he missed the net on a rebound on a power play. He was mostly quiet otherwise, which probably isn’t surprising given how the Oilers fared.
Nugent-Hopkins didn’t even take the ice for a power play to start the second period as the Oilers opted to use two defenseman with Jake Walman taking his spot. The Oilers eventually scored later on that man advantage, and with Nugent-Hopkins on the ice, but that certainly was an unconventional move for them.
Overall, Nugent-Hopkins played 15:34 and spent the second half the game largely centering the second line with Connor Brown and mostly Evander Kane as the Oilers loaded up with McDavid, Perry and Leon Draisaitl on the top line.
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Kris Knoblauch says the third period was “boys being boys” and “making investments for the next game.” He says they wouldn’t have played that way had the game not been out of hand.
He also questions some of the penalties earlier in the game and says sarcastically that he wishes these same refs that correctly caught them with too many men in the first period were calling the overtime in Game 2.
Brad Marchand also joked with TNT that he would "call BS for sure" if someone told him a year ago that he and longtime rival Sam Bennett would be leading the charge for this Panthers team.
"But he's such an incredible player, just the intensity that he has every day — not just in the rink, all the time — he's an incredible guy. He elevates this time of year. He's built for this time of year. He shows up every night, competes as hard as he can. He's one of those guys that you always need to know where they are at all times. Not just because he can play physical, but because he can score off nothing."
Not that you'd expect someone as experienced and confident as Brad Marchand to be at all rattled by the violence Edmonton showed on the ice tonight, but it's still noteworthy how quickly the wily veteran dismissed it out of hand.
"I think that's just competitiveness out of their group," Marchand told TNT. "Obviously, when you get to this point, everyone's so intense and so competitive. That's how games go when the score runs up a little bit. They're fun games to be a part of, and the fans obviously enjoyed it. … It's the best time of the year right now, I'm enjoying every day."
The Panthers scored at least five goals in a game for the 11th time this postseason tonight. Only five other teams in NHL history have done so as many times in a playoff year: 1981 Islanders, 1983 Islanders, 1984 Oilers, 1985 Blackhawks and 1992 Penguins.
Connor McDavid: "I don't think our best has shown up all series long, but it's coming."
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Stuart Skinner, on the other hand, struggled immensely tonight, allowing five goals on 23 shots before being replaced by Calvin Pickard.
Unlike the Panthers, the Oilers gave playing time to both of their goalies during the first three rounds. Pickard replaced Skinner during the first round and earned six straight wins before an injury saw Skinner retake the starting role.
Prior to tonight's relief appearance, Pickard's stats this postseason were a mixed bag: 6 starts (7 total games), 6-0 record, 19 goals allowed, .888 save percentage, 2.84 GAA, 0 shutouts
Kris Knoblauch faces a real decision to make when it comes to Game 4: stick with Skinner or flip to Pickard?
Sergei Bobrovsky and Stuart Skinner came into Game 3 on equal footing, each having allowed eight total goals across the first two games. That footing is no longer equal after tonight's thrashing.
Bobrovsky has now made 116 saves in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, which is tied for the second most in NHL history through three games of a Final.
He's equal to Olie Kolzig (116 in 1998) and behind only Tuukka Rask (120 in 2013).
Matthew Tkachuk joins the TNT broadcast and Henrik Lundqvist immediately asks him about the violent nature of the game and Edmonton's escalation.
"We talk about being composed," he replied. "If you gotta take a punch in the face, a slash in the face, a cross-check, a slash in the leg, whatever the case is, you gotta do it. There's a bigger picture with the win here for us. We just wanted to protect ourselves, protect our teammates when needed, but at the end of the day, you gotta be smart in a game like this, and I thought our team did that.
"It's kind of weird for me to say this, because I don't feel like an old player at all … but we played like a solid, veteran older team that's been here before."
Tonight's game will be memorable for a lot of reasons. But one that will probably fall under the radar is that this was Panthers head coach Paul Maurice's 1000th career win (regular season and playoffs combined) as a head coach, per the NHL.
He's just the third coach in NHL history to reach the milestone, alongside Scotty Bowman (1,467) and Joel Quenneville (1,090).
My favorite part is when he points and laughs at him. The pointing is extra annoying.
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Tonight's 140 combined penalty minutes are the fourth most in a Stanley Cup Final game in NHL history.
Here's the full list, per Sportsnet:
Jake Walman defends his team's actions after the game: "I mean it's for the Stanley Cup, you know. So f***. There's not an inch out there. It's a grown man's game out there. That's not for the faint of heart. Guys are putting everything on the line, you know?"
Moshe P: If it were possible to lose a series in one game this would be it.
Douglas R: Embarrassing game for the NHL.
Jordan M: Real bush league business down the stretch but it still only counts as one loss. Will be interesting to see what version of Edmonton shows up in Game 4, I guess.
Jason I: I am seriously surprised how bad Edmonton has embarrassed themselves, not only with the score but with the way they played, just pathetic.
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