What a heartbreaking way to end a game.
The Edmonton Oilers hosted the Florida Panthers for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Friday, and for the second consecutive game, 60 minutes wasn’t enough as the two teams went to overtime. In the end, the Florida Panthers won 5-4 in double overtime as Brad Marchand raced away for his second goal of the contest.
The Panthers opened the scoring just two minutes into the first. After the Oilers’ penalty killers were scrambling, Sam Bennett entered the slot all alone and put it past Stuart Skinner for the 1-0 lead. Bennett should’ve been in the box after kicking Mattias Ekholm’s stick, but the officials played a huge role in this game.
With just under eight minutes into the first, the Oilers evened the scoring as Evander Kane broke in on the rush, sniping it past Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game at one. In fairness, the Oilers probably got away with a board shortly before this goal.
Midway through the first period after coincidental minors, the Oilers broke into the Panthers’ zone. Evan Bouchard’s first shot was blocked, but on his own rebound, he snapped it past Bobrovsky to take a 2-1 lead.
For the second time in the series, the Panthers scored a goal that wasn’t inadvertently assisted by the officials. As the Panthers hemmed the Oilers in the defensive zone, Seth Jones crashed down low and buried the puck into a wide-open net to tie the game at 2-2.
With about seven and a half minutes left in the first, the Oilers regained their lead thanks to Connor McDavid doing Connor McDavid things, walking Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad, before passing it to a wide-open Leon Draisaitl for the power play one-timer.
Midway through the second period, after sustained zone time, Dmitry Kulikov’s shot from the point deflected off Bouchard and past Stuart Skinner to tie the game up at three.
The Panthers took back their lead with about eight minutes left in the second as the Oilers were struggling to get a zone entry on their power play. Eventually, Marchand received a shorthanded breakaway, beating Skinner five-hole to make it a 4-3 game.
In the final half minute of the game, the Oilers found an equalizer as Corey Perry scored his eighth of the postseason, chopping the puck past Bobrovsky to send the game to overtime.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for the Oilers as Marchand scored his second of the game, also on a breakaway, despite an excellent backcheck from Draisaitl. Marchand and the Panthers earned the split in Edmonton, and it was a painful way for the Oilers to lose.
Takeaways…
Despite the last-minute goal that sent Game 2 to double overtime, that wasn’t a particularly great game for the Oilers. They were far too involved in the rough stuff, giving the Panthers a bunch of power plays in the first period.
It was a horrendous second period for the consecutive game, as the Oilers were outshot 14-9 and gave up far too many quality looks, including a breakaway. If not for Stuart Skinner, the Oilers could’ve lost the game in the second period.
Another aspect of the game that stayed the same was brutal officiating. On top of calling everything in the first period — seriously, there were 11 minor penalties, the referees missed a clear call on the Panthers’ first goal. Toward the end of the first period, they missed a clear high stick on Evan Bouchard, who retaliated and received a cross-checking penalty.
But wait, there’s more! On an offside in the third period, Bennett bumped Bouchard, who gave him a little love tap. Bennett then two-handed Bouchard, and guess what, there was no call despite the referees calling two retaliatory penalties on the Oilers earlier in the game. They also missed this clear cross-check to the face of Evander Kane.
The worst thing the officials did in the game was a missed too many men call in double overtime. Aaron Ekblad blocked a shot with his hand. As he was going to the bench, another Panther hopped on the ice and was directly involved in the play before Ekblad got to the bench. There’s a lot that players can get away with in overtime, but just like the puck over the glass, this has to be called.
Bouchard had a mixed-bag type of game overall. He finished with a goal and two assists, but was behind the play on Marchand’s game-winning goal.
Connor McDavid also finished with three assists. The worrisome news is that he played a game-high 35:07, with Leon Draisaitl not far behind him with 32:29. We saw how detrimental not playing all four lines can be in the first series for the Los Angeles Kings against the Oilers.
The fourth line had a great game on Wednesday, and I didn’t give nearly enough love to Vasily Podkolzin in the takeaways. Unfortunately, Podkolzin, Mattias Janmark, and Viktor Arvidsson didn’t have a great game in Game 2.
When does Sam Bennett’s stop receiving the benefit of the doubt? He’s now fallen on a goalie three times, knocking Toronto Maple Leafs’ netminder Anthony Stolarz out for the rest of their second-round series. He’s fallen on Skinner twice now, one leading to a goal, and another one where Skinner narrowly avoided injury. The league needs to take action before someone gets seriously injured.
Despite having a sub-.900 save percentage, Skinner made some massive saves throughout the game, including a game-saving stop after a John Klingberg turnover. Skinner finished with an .881 save percentage, but he gave the Oilers a chance and his puck-handling abilities have been terrific all postseason.
As heartbreaking as Game 2 was, the series is far from over. The two teams travel to Sunrise, Florida, on Monday to play Game 3 at 6:00 PM MT. Simply put, the Oilers have to at least win a game, because going down 3-1 in the series is a recipe for disaster.
