Panthers defeat Oilers 6-1, take lead in Stanley Cup final
Florida takes 2-1 lead in best-of-7 series, with Game 4 on Thursday night
The Florida Panthers have taken the series lead in the Stanley Cup final after a lopsided 6-1 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Monday night.
Things went Florida's way from the outset.
Brad Marchand, the double overtime hero in Game 2, scored less than a minute into the game to open the scoring for Florida, and Carter Verhaeghe added a second on the power play to go up by two late in a penalty-filled period.
Seven penalties were called in the first 20 minutes Monday, and the Oilers went to the dressing room down 2-0.
Corey Perry got Edmonton on the board with a power-play goal early in the second period, but the Panthers were quick to respond with Sam Reinhart getting a third goal past Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch said the Oilers weren't able to find their footing after that goal.
Sam Bennett then notched his league-leading 14th goal of the playoffs, seven minutes into a rough-and-tumble second period to give his team a 4-1 lead as the Panthers took control of the game.
The Oilers had a scare midway through the second frame, as Connor McDavid went down the tunnel to the dressing room after taking a hard hit, but the captain came back out moments later.
The Oilers would get no reprieve in the final frame at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.
Skinner took a delay of game penalty for flipping the puck over the glass early in the third, and was pulled after Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad scored on the ensuing power play to give his team a 5-1 lead.
Evan Rodrigues got one past backup Calvin Pickard on a two-man power play advantage with 3:50 remaining to cap off the scoring in a third period marked by fights and game misconduct penalties, with several players getting tossed as the Oilers' frustrations ran high and tempers flared in the final stretch.
A near-brawl that started by the bench saw Oilers defender Darnell Nurse drop the gloves with Panthers winger Jonah Gadjovich.
Despite getting crushed on the scoreboard, the Oilers finished the night with 33 shots to the Panthers' 31.
Oilers looking ahead to Game 4
Evander Kane, who got tossed after taking a slashing penalty toward the end of the game, expressed some frustration with the officiating.
"The game obviously got out of hand at the end there. That stuff is going to happen," he said in a post-game interview. "You look at some of the calls and whatnot, obviously some of them are frustrating. They seem to get away with it more than we do."
The winger said his team seemed disconnected Monday night, especially from their own end to the neutral zone.
"We didn't play very well, that's evident. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We can definitely be a lot better," he said.
Oilers players said they're looking ahead to Thursday's game and focusing on getting a split on the road before returning to Edmonton for Game 5.
"Obviously it wasn't our best, not our best at all," said McDavid. "I don't think our best has shown up all series long, but it's coming."
The two teams had been evenly matched after two games in the action-packed rematch series, with the Oilers taking Game 1 in a 4-3 overtime victory, and the Panthers taking Game 2 by a score of 5-4 in double overtime.
In last year's Cup finals, the Oilers won two of their games by scores of 5-1 and 8-1 but ultimately lost the series in Game 7.
Game 4 is set for Thursday in Florida at 8 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. MT.
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