Florida Panthers rebound from a bitter defeat to take pivotal Game 5 against Edmonton Oilers in Stanley Cup Final
By Kevin Dotson, CNN
(CNN) — The Florida Panthers are just one win away from being crowned NHL champions for a second consecutive season after a resounding 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final Saturday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
The pivotal win comes just 48 hours after the Panthers let a three-goal lead slip away on home ice on Thursday.
The Panthers’ push for back-to-back championships continues to be sparked by 37-year-old trade deadline acquisition Brad Marchand, who scored a pair of goals Saturday night to bring his total to six tallies through five games in the finals.
With the series knotted at 2-2 entering Game 5, a win would give the victors a distinct advantage moving forward. Teams that win the fifth game a tied Stanley Cup Final have gone on to claim the championship 73% of the time, according to the NHL.
As each team looked to get off to a fast start, it was the Panthers who found the back of the net first, midway through the opening period. Marchand collected the puck off a face-off at center ice and split a pair of Oilers defenders before slotting the puck past Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard to give Florida the early 1-0 lead.
With two minutes remaining in the first period, Edmonton turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Florida capitalized in the blink of an eye as Sam Bennett scored his fifth goal of the finals to stake the Panthers to a 2-0 lead heading to the first intermission. Bennett leads all players with 15 goals in the 2025 postseason.
After a scoreless second period, the action picked up again in the third period as the Panthers continued to take the fight to the Oilers. Once again it was Marchand scoring a spectacular goal for Florida on a one-on-one breakaway to put the Panthers ahead 3-0 and bring his total to 10 goals this this year’s playoffs.
In his 16th NHL season, Marchand is putting his name next to some of the NHL’s all-time greats. He has become first player since Mario Lemieux to have 5+ goals in two different Stanley Cup Final series. Marchand’s scoring outburst has also moved him to 6th place on the list of most goals scored in the finals in the expansion era.
Just over two minutes after Marchand’s magical goal, Edmonton finally got on the scoreboard as Oilers superstar Connor McDavid scored from a tough angle to cut the Panthers’ advantage to 3-1.
The Panthers answered less than a minute later when Sam Reinhart shot a wrister through traffic to restore Florida’s cushion at 4-1.
Late in the period with the game out of reach, Edmonton’s Corey Perry scored, but Florida again answered with an empty net goal from Eetu Luostarinen to maintain a three-goal winning margin.
The best-of seven series now shifts 2,500 miles back to South Florida where the Panthers can become the first team to lift the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons since their in-state rivals the Tampa Bay Lightning accomplished the feat in 2020 and 2021.
Edmonton must find a counter to Florida’s two-man wrecking crew of Marchand and Bennett if the Oilers are to have any hope of being the first Canadian team to win a championship since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
Marchand and Bennett are the first teammates to each score at least five goals in a Stanley Cup Final in over 50 years.
Florida will have a chance to close out the series at home on Tuesday in Game 6 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
The-CNN-Wire
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