EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — After allowing the latest tying goal in Stanley Cup Final history, the Florida Panthers kept the chatter going at intermission before overtime. Some guys exchanged predictions on who was going to score the winner.
It turned out to be Brad Marchand in double overtime to give the defending champions a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 in Game 2 on Friday night to even the series.
“To be honest, I blacked out,” Marchand said. “I don’t even know where it went. It was a fortuitous bounce. We’ll take it.”
Marchand’s second goal of the night 8:04 into the second OT allowed Florida to escape with a split after Corey Perry tied it with 17.8 seconds left in the third period and Stuart Skinner pulled for an extra attacker. Each of the first two games this final have gone to overtime, the first time that has happened since 2014 and just the sixth in NHL history.
“Obviously a long game,” said defenseman Seth Jones, who led the Panthers in ice time at 34:15. “We came here for a split and got it and just going to recover now.”
Much like last year and the playoff run to this point, Sergei Bobrovsky was dialed in when he was needed the most, making some unreal saves while stopping 42 of the 46 shots he faced — including 14 in the overtimes.
“He gives us a chance every night,” winger Evan Rodrigues said. “That’s all you can ask for. Some big saves, key saves at key moments, and we’re not taking him for granted, that’s for sure.”
His teammates provided the necessary goal support.
Along with Marchand, Sam Bennett scored his postseason-leading 13th goal and NHL-record 12th on the road. Jones scored into a wide-open net after some spectacular tic-tac-toe passing, and fellow defenseman Dmitry Kulikov tied it with a shot through traffic that Skinner almost certainly did not see.
Kulikov’s goal came after Florida controlled play for several minutes in the second, hemming Edmonton in its zone shift after shift and piling up a 34-13 advantage in shot attempts during the period. Marchand’s OT goal was his 10th career goal in the final to lead all active players.
Game 3 is Monday night as the teams traverse the continent and play shifts to Sunrise.
“Each game could’ve went either way,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Obviously when you win the first one, you’re disappointed not to win the second.”
The Panthers wrested home-ice advantage away from the Oilers by splitting the first two, rebounding from a Game 1 overtime loss and asserting they won’t go quietly against Draisaitl and Connor McDavid looking like they’ll do everything in their power to hoist the Cup for the first time.
Of course, those stars had their moments. They assisted on Evan Bouchard’s goal when coach Kris Knoblauch put them on the ice together, and McDavid stickhandled through multiple defenders in highlight-reel fashion to set up Draisaitl scoring on the power play.
There were a lot of those — 10 in total — after officials whistled 14 penalties, including three in the first four minutes. Each team had a few calls it was not happy with, though most of that evened out over the course of the game.
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