The defending champion Florida Panthers blew another third-period lead, but this time they won the overtime.
As a result, the Panthers head home with a 1-1 tie in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final. Game 3 is scheduled for Monday night in Sunrise, Florida (8 p.m. ET, TNT).
Brad Marchand scored the winning goal Friday night at 8:05 of the second overtime to down the Edmonton Oilers 5-4. It was his second breakaway goal of the game, with the puck sliding between the pads of Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner.
“To be honest, I blacked out. I don’t even know where it went,” he told TNT after the game. “Obviously a fortuitous bounce and we’ll take it.”
Edmonton’s Corey Perry scored with less than 18 seconds left in the third period to tie the game. That forced overtime for the second game in a row.
Connor McDavid made a spectacular play around Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov and No. 1 defenseman Aaron Ekblad to feed Leon Draisaitl for his 10th goal of the playoffs.
The Panthers regrouped after the first intermission, though. They were disciplined, they controlled the boards, they spent a lot of time in the Oilers’ zone, and they took the lead.
Dmitry Kulikov tied the game and trade deadline acquisition Marchand put the Panthers ahead 4-3 with a short-handed breakaway goal.
“We have so many different leaders on the team that can manage different situations,” Marchand said. “We definitely have that confidence in our group that we can be resilient in situations.”
Source:USA Today
