The Oilers became the first club to be held to one goal or less in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008. The Panthers have outscored the Oilers 7-1 so far in the series.
Game 3 will be held in Edmonton on Thursday night. Teams that are victorious in the first two games in the championship round have won the Stanley Cup 90.7% of the time.
Edmonton rolled out to 1-0 lead with 8:43 remaining in the first period with a 4-on-4 goal. Connor McDavid backhanded the puck from his own goal line. Mattias Ekholm carried it all the way down the ice and then placed in a wrist shot from the inner left circle by Sergei Bobrovsky for his fifth playoff goal. It was their first shot on goal by the Oilers in the contest and their first lead in the series.
In the second period, Florida tied it up 1-1 at 9:34. Vladimir Tarasenko backhanded it in the neutral zone. Anton Lundell charged into the Oilers zone and made a drop pass. Niko Mikkola snapped a shot from the high slot past Stuart Skinner for his second tally of the postseason.
The Panthers moved ahead 2-1 at 3:11 of the third period. Evan Rodrigues was able to stop a clearing attempt by Evan Bouchard. He took a snap shot from the top left circle and fount the net for his fifth goal in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Rodrigues scored for the second time in the series.
It became 3-1 for the Cats on the power play with 7:34 left in the third period. Lundell centered it from the left wing and Rodrigues redirected it in from the low slot for his second goal of the game. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was credited with a secondary assist on the play.
The Oilers pulled their goalie for an extra skater with 5:53 left. Florida made it 4-1 with 2:28 to go in the third. Sam Bennett poked the puck ahead and Aaron Ekblad fired a forehand shot from the neutral zone into an empty goal for his first playoff goal.
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