EDMONTON 鈥� The 2025 Stanley Cup final has already been everything that was advertised and more.
Brad Marchand had a pair of goals, including the winner in double overtime, as the Florida Panthers evened their championship final rematch with Edmonton, defeating the Oilers 5-4 in a wild Game 2 on Friday.
Marchand got a breakaway and was able to sneak a backhand shot through Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner鈥檚 legs 8:05 into the second overtime.
Sam Bennett, Seth Jones and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for the Panthers, who improved to 9-3 on the road in post-season play.
鈥淏ig win. Obviously, a long game, a lot of back and forth tonight,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淲e came here for a split and got it and we鈥檙e just going to recover now.
鈥淲e wanted to come and just play good hockey. Regardless of the outcome, we wanted to come and be physical, play our game and it's nice that it's 1-1.鈥�
Sergei Bobrovsky made 42 saves to register the win in the Florida net.
Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues said his team did a good job of not getting deflated when the Oilers scored with 18 seconds left in the third to force overtime.
"I thought we did a really good job of just staying up,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou can't feel sorry for yourself. It's the worst thing you can do. We got right back in the room. No one was quiet. We all came together and stayed loud, stayed up. Overtime game, right? They're a hell of a team, we're a good team and it's going to be a hell of a series.
鈥淲e got back out there and got the win.鈥�
Evander Kane, Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry replied for the Oilers who had a five-game win streak snapped and dropped to 7-2 at home. Connor McDavid had three assists and Bouchard added a pair.
鈥淲e made some great plays and they capitalized on some plays that we probably could have been there (to stop),鈥� Perry said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 hockey. One mistake and it gets magnified, and it did tonight.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough one to swallow, but it鈥檚 not supposed to be easy. They played hard tonight. They got their chances, and they capitalized on that one. That鈥檚 the difference.鈥�
Skinner made 37 saves in the loss.
Florida started the scoring 2:07 into the opening period on an early power play as Nate Schmidt fed it across to Bennett and he deposited his 13th of the playoffs into the net before Skinner could get across, setting a new NHL record for road goals in a single post-season with 12.
The Oilers tied it at 7:39 of the first frame as Kane took off on a partial breakaway and beat Bobrovsky up high with a shot that went off the post and in for his sixth of the playoffs.
Edmonton then surged in front less than two minutes later with the teams playing four aside as Connor McDavid dropped it back to Bouchard and he got the rebound of his own blocked shot and then sent it past Bobrovsky from distance for his seventh.
Florida knotted the game back up with just over eight minutes to play in the frantic first as Eetu Luostarinen made a nice pass across to Jones, who had a wide-open net to rifle in his fourth of the playoffs.
Edmonton jumped back in front a minute later after Bennett was sent off for goaltender interference after landing heavily on Skinner鈥檚 right leg in a play reminiscent of the challenged goal in Game 1, as McDavid made a couple of incredible moves before passing it to Draisaitl who scored his 10th of the playoffs and third of the finals after being held without a goal in last year鈥檚 final.
It was the highest scoring first period in a final since 2016.
Florida made it 3-3 at 7:23 of the second period as a Kulikov shot went off of Bouchard and then the post and in for his second.
The Panthers took the lead with 7:51 to play in the middle period as Marchand sent it through Skinners鈥� legs on a short-handed breakaway for his sixth.
The game looked like it was over, but Edmonton engineered another comeback, scoring with just 18 seconds left in the third period and their goalie pulled as Perry found the puck in a mad scramble in front and managed to bang in his eighth of the playoffs to send the game to extra time.
Florida had the best chances in the first overtime, with Marchand sliding a puck under Skinner only to hit the post and be fished to safety by John Klingberg, as well as Sam Reinhart missing the net on a clear breakaway.
UP NEXT
Game 3 takes place on Monday at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
