NHL
Stanley
Cup Final
SUNRISE, Fla. — By the time Aaron Ekblad sent Connor McDavid flying with an open-ice hit in the second period of Game 3, the result was already a foregone conclusion.
It was the punctuation mark on a night when the Stanley Cup Final finally got some separation.
After two electrifying overtime games that were so incredibly closely contested, the Florida Panthers’ brand imposed itself on the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night in a 6-1 crush job. The Panthers bullied the Oilers every which way, the nasty boys Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett both scored, and Florida tilted the ice in a way that hadn’t seemed possible in this year’s final between these two very evenly matched teams.
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It was also the least entertaining game of the series, which is the way Florida wants it. Game 3 was Panthers-style hockey, grinding down the Oilers and nullifying any notion of a track meet.
“I thought everybody had a great game,” Panthers star winger Matthew Tkachuk said after the game. “We played simple, hard, fast, physical, and supported each other up and down the ice. When we do that, it makes it easier on each other.”
And a nightmare on the opposing team.
Florida made Edmonton look disjointed in every way. Their skill was nullified by a lack of cohesion in every area.
“As advertised,” Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Pronger told The Athletic via text message Monday night, referring to Florida’s brand. “EDM had too many mistakes to do it alone. Need more of a team game to beat the Panthers. EDM was too stretched out in the second period. Need a more concerted effort to come with 5 together.”
In many ways, it was reminiscent of how Florida beat Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final a year ago.
“We play a pretty simple game. We forecheck hard, we defend with five guys, and we did it pretty good today,” said towering Panthers blueliner Niko Mikkola.
Tight-gap hockey, closing off lanes, suffocating the Oilers’ top stars and their ability to find open ice: Panthers hockey was on full display.
“I mean, I think you guys have seen it enough — we’re trying to play the same way every night, trying to keep it as simple as possible,” said Panthers star Sam Reinhart. “We’re trying to take away time and space. Certainly when you got the offensive caliber of players they have over there, you don’t want to get in a track meet.”
It was easily the Oilers’ worst effort of this year’s playoffs since the early days of that first-round series with the Los Angeles Kings. There was zero evidence after beating contending teams like the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars in five games apiece that we were ever going to see that version of the Oilers again.
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“They checked us tight, there wasn’t much room for us,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game. “They played a heck of a game. And we’re going to have to raise ours.”
Marchand’s goal just 56 seconds into Game 3 Monday night had the Oilers chasing a game they never looked close to catching. Dumb offensive-zone penalties, emotions boiling over after the whistle in scrums — this is not the script for Edmonton to win this series. A total lack of composure.
Again, credit Florida. This is what the Panthers do. They’re the most physical, abrasive team in the NHL, they lead the playoffs in hits per 60 minutes, and they get under their opponents’ skin so much that they sometimes see red and come unglued.
I actually turned to Athletic colleagues Michael Russo, Chris Johnston and Daniel Nugent-Bowman during the second period and said, “Somebody on the Oilers is going to go after Bennett.”
It was a period later, and it was Trent Frederic. All of which ignited a wild melee and gloves dropped everywhere. Total mayhem. The Oilers wanted their pound of flesh.
Wait, a team with Marchand, Bennett and Tkachuk got under the opposition’s skin? Shocking.
“We talked about it in the third period — if you have to take a punch, take a punch,” said Tkachuk. “If you have to take a cross-check, take a cross-check, a spear, a slash in the face, whatever the case is; you got to take it. We spent the whole period on the power (play) and we were able to get some insurance (goals). And when the time was needed to stick up for each other, it was there. But we just played a really smart game. That’s really it.”
Mayhem in Sunrise 🫣 pic.twitter.com/n1FZtOEwMG
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 10, 2025
The Oilers have to be better than this. They’re a veteran team. They’ve been laser-focused all playoffs long, led by the insatiable motivation from McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to get their first Stanley Cup championship. This was supposed to be the one team in the NHL, perhaps, that didn’t succumb to Florida’s brand this way.
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“I don’t think our best has shown up all series long, but it’s coming,” McDavid said after the game.
It better, because Game 3 was an absolute pounding in every fashion.
It didn’t help that Stuart Skinner looked shaky after a terrific run. It was inevitable he would have one of these stinkers, and his bounce-back ability is strong so perhaps this is his one game of the series where he couldn’t answer the bell, but Reinhart’s goal to make it 3-1 just 1:20 after Corey Perry had given the Oilers life with a power-play goal was a shot Skinner has to have to keep his team in the fight. Yes, it was a great shot by an absolute sniper, but those are the moments in a Cup final that make the difference.
Still, there was little evidence it might have mattered anyway. Florida stepped on the gas pedal and never looked back.
“Collectively, goaltender, defense, all our forwards, we all have to be better,” Knoblauch said, deflecting away criticism toward Skinner only.
In a series in which it was supposed to be very difficult for either of these teams to impose its style on the other for 60 minutes, rather than the tug-of-war we saw in Games 1-2, Panthers hockey took over Monday night in stunning fashion.
“We played our game, our style, stuck up for each other when we needed to,” Tkachuk said.
Now the question is whether the double off days will allow the Oilers to reset in time for Game 4 on Thursday and completely flush the nightmare. The Oilers would have normally stayed off the ice Tuesday after a game given the extra day of rest, but instead scheduled a practice.
That’s telling. Time for a reboot.
Edmonton’s performance in these playoffs suggests a bounce-back performance. But Monday night sure had the feeling that the Panthers have swung the series.
(Top photo of Carter Verhaeghe, Connor McDavid and Aaron Ekblad: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
Pierre LeBrun has been a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic since 2017. He has been an NHL Insider for TSN since 2011 following six years as a panelist on Hockey Night In Canada. He also appears regularly on RDS in Montreal. Pierre previously covered the NHL for ESPN.com and The Canadian Press. Follow Pierre on Twitter @PierreVLeBrun