NHL
Stanley
Cup Final
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Brad Marchand scored in double overtime as the Panthers won Game 2 to even the Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers at a game apiece.
After losing Game 1 in overtime, Florida looked set to win in regulation tonight but Corey Perry forced OT with 18 seconds left, scoring the latest game-tying goal in Stanley Cup Final history.
After a scoreless first OT period, Marchand beat Stuart Skinner 8:04 into the second OT for his second goal of the night and third of the Final.
Game 3 is Monday night in Florida.
GO FURTHER
Brad Marchand plays 2OT hero as Panthers defeat Oilers in Game 2 of Stanley Cup Final: Takeaways
Kris Knoblauch praises his team's ability to bounce back. It's happened this playoffs, responding after tough losses. He believes it will happen again as the Stanley Cup Final shifts to Sunrise, Florida.
"We put it behind us," Knoblauch said. "We have to get ready for the next one. In the playoffs, things don't go your way … We've done a pretty good job responding and getting focused on the next game."
The first two games of the Stanley Cup Final have seen mammoth ice times for Connor McDavid. Below are his ice times in comparison to what he's averaged over the entire postseason:
Paul Maurice earned his 83rd career playoff win tonight, surpassing Toe Blake (82) and tying Barry Trotz (83) for 14th place on the NHL’s all-time list.
Maurice now has 999 career wins including the regular season (916), and is one shy of joining Scotty Bowman (1,467) and Joel Quenneville (1,090) as the only head coaches to reach quadruple digits.
With an assist on Evander Kane’s goal before netting one of his own, Bouchard moved into second place among defensemen on the franchise’s scoring list, passing Charlie Huddy. Pretty impressive, but it’s even more impressive considering Bouchard has played 67 fewer postseason games than Huddy.
But, wait. There’s more.
Bouchard’s goal was the 20th of his postseason career in just 71 games. That matches Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar as the fastest active defenseman to that mark. Per the NHL, only six other blueliners hit that milestone quicker: Paul Coffey (48 games), Brian Leetch (49), Bobby Orr (50), Denis Potvin (52), Al MacInnis (70) and Paul Reinhart (70). Reinhart is the father of Panthers forward Sam Reinhart.
Sam Bennett, who set a Panthers record for goals in a playoff by scoring twice in Game 1, didn’t waste time breaking another record — this time an NHL record 127 seconds into Game 2.
Bennett’s 13th goal, which came on a power play, was his 12th on the road — a new NHL record.
But Bennett would be in the middle of more controversy later in the period. One game after the Oilers were unsuccessful in challenging that Bennett interfered with Stuart Skinner during the game’s first goal, Bennett toppled over Skinner after getting contact from Ekholm later in the period.
With the game tied 2-2 at the time, the refs called Bennett for goalie interference, much to the chagrin of the Panthers. On the ensuing power play, Edmonton reclaimed the lead after an extraordinary move by McDavid to set up Draisaitl.
Less than four minutes after Kulikov tied the game at 3-3, Brad Marchand scored his second career short-handed goal in the Stanley Cup Final.
In fact, it came exactly 14 years to the day after his last one in Game 3 of the Boston-Vancouver series against Roberto Luongo — the now-Florida Panthers special adviser to GM Bill Zito.
With the Panthers dominating the Oilers over a five-minute stretch, it appeared as if Niko Mikkola may douse momentum by hooking McDavid. But instead, Anton Lundell sprung Marchand for the shortie.
Marchand then came up clutch in double overtime, scoring 8:04 into the frame.
Marchand’s seventh goal of the playoffs was also his 10th career goal in the Stanley Cup Final, the most amongst active NHLers, one more than Perry. Marchand is the second player age 37 or older to score in each of the first two games of a Stanley Cup Final (Hall of Famer Larry Robinson in 1989).
Corey Perry was very nearly the hero tonight after his goal with 18 seconds left in regulation forced overtime. But the 40-year-old had a kept an understandable perspective after the Oilers lost thanks to fellow legendary veteran Brad Marchand.
"We made some great plays, and they capitalized on some plays where we could have been there," he said. "That's hockey. One mistake, and it gets magnified, and it did tonight."
By Michael Russo, Daniel Nugent-Bowman and Chris Johnston
In another high-scoring classic, hard-hitting, sometimes nasty affair in the rematch between 2024 Stanley Cup finalists Florida and Edmonton, this time it was the reigning Cup champion Panthers who won in double overtime.
One game after the Panthers coughed up a two-goal lead before losing in overtime, Florida overcame what could have been a crushing goal when ageless Corey Perry forced overtime with a tying goal with 17.8 seconds left in regulation on a six-on-five.
But 8:04 into the second overtime, fellow-ageless Florida forward Brad Marchand scored his second of the game to give the Panthers a 5-4 victory Friday night at Rogers Place. It was his fifth career playoff overtime winner.
The win evened the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final at one win apiece. The Oilers were handed their first loss since Game 1 of the Western Conference final to snap a five-game winning streak. It was just their fifth loss of the postseason.
Sergei Bobrovsky earned his 58th career playoff win tonight, surpassing Tuukka Rask (57) for sole possession of 18th most in NHL history.
Among goaltenders born outside North America, he now ranks fourth all-time, trailing only Andrei Vasilevskiy (67), Dominik Hasek (65) and Henrik Lundqvist (61).
Only Joe Sakic and Maurice Richard have more career playoff overtime goals than Brad Marchand now.
Through the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final:
Matthew Tkachuk had high praise for his teammate Brad Marchand. He believes he could play until he's 47.
Tkachuk saw him in Boston but he's glad that Marchand is now on his team.
"His hockey sense is unbelievable," Tkachuk said.
Below are the Stanley Cup odds courtesy of The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn. With Florida's double OT win, they are now the favourites to go back-to-back at 56 percent.
The Oilers are at 44 percent to win the Cup.
Below are the top five active skaters with the most Stanley Cup Final goals:
This marks Florida's ninth win on the road in these playoffs, breaking a tie with last year's Stanley Cup Final-winning squad for the most in a single postseason in franchise history. The Panthers' nine wins are tied with the 2022 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, one win behind a six-way tie for first.
The 2019 St. Louis Blues, 2018 Washington Capitals, 2012 Los Angeles Kings, 2004 Calgary Flames and 2000 and 1995 New Jersey Devils all had 10 playoff road wins.
With two goals tonight, Brad Marchand moved into 29th in NHL history with 63 playoff goals, passing Bobby Hull, Phil Esposito, Jacques Lemaire, Mark Recchi and Corey Perry.
Brad Marchand praised Anton Lundell for the deep pass that ultimately led to the breakaway and the Game 2 double OT winner. He called winning a playoff game at Rogers Place "exciting."
"It’s obviously an intense series," Marchand said. "I loved our resilience. I really liked our game tonight."
On winning Game 2 in front of his parents: "These are memories you have for the rest of your life, not just for yourself but for your family."
James T: Five more games of this please.
Mario M: Two awesome games. This deserves to be tied. Gimme five more of this.
Andrew L: Sucks when you lose because you’re all wound up and there’s no catharsis. Oh well. Guess it was too much to ask for. Looking forward to the next coin flip on Monday.
Brian F: Wow. The first two games take a combined 170+ minutes to split. What a matchup!!
That was the first overtime loss the Oilers have suffered in a Stanley Cup Final game. Prior to tonight, they were 4-0 all-time with goals from Jari Kurri (1987), Petr Klima (1990), Fernando Pisani (2006) and Leon Draisaitl (Game 1).
It's also the first overtime loss Edmonton has suffered this postseason. They were also 4-0 in that regard before this loss.
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