The offenses came out to play.
The Edmonton Oilers appeared they were on their way to an easy victory.
In Thursday’s NHL 25 simulation of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Oilers scored four goals in the first period, but the Panthers roared back to score three goals in the following 20-minute interval. In the end, it wasn’t enough as Edmonton held on for a 5-4 victory.
Connor McDavid scored two goals on three shots and led the way for the Oilers with three points. Connor Brown had two assists, and Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, Leon Draisaitl, and Kasperi Kapanen also scored for Edmonton. Stuart Skinner made 35 saves.
Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Aleksander Barkov, and Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Panthers. Evan Rodrigues also registered two assists for Florida and Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves.
First Period
Edmonton took a 1-0 lead just 1:24 into the game on the power play when Kapanen knocked in a rebound off a shot from Viktor Arvidsson, who ripped a shot from the right circle that bounced off Bobrovsky’s glove before Kapanen stormed in for the garbage goal.
About seven minutes later, the Oilers scored again on the power play when McDavid fed Draisaitl a gorgeous one-timer to put them up by two. It was almost an identical setup to Game 1’s overtime winner on Wednesday night in the real world.
McDavid made it a 3-0 game with 3:55 left in the first when he scored on a breakaway. It all transpired when Sam Bennett got knocked over while carrying the puck through the neutral zone. Edmonton was in the middle of a line change and Trent Frederic was able to dish the puck to a fresh-legged McDavid, who sprinted away like a madman to beat Bobrovsky for the beautiful backhand finish.
Edmonton scored their fourth goal of the period with 26.5 seconds left when Florida coughed up the puck in their own zone. Kulak recovered the loose puck and shoveled a pass to Nurse, who ripped a slap shot from the point that trickled off Bobrovsky’s blocker pad and into the net.
Second Period
However, after a disastrous first period, the Panthers came roaring back in the second. Barkov scored just 15 seconds into the frame when Evan Rodrigues fed him a pass from the wing, and Barkov snapped it by Skinner. The Panthers scored again about a minute late when Corey Perry turned over the puck in Florida’s defensive zone. It quickly turned into an opportunity for the opposition. Rodrigues fired a shot that bounced off Skinner’s skate, and Reinhart knocked in the rebound to make it a two-goal deficit.
Marchand made it a one-goal game when Florida executed the breakout to perfection. The charge was led by Eetu Luostarinen, who slid a pass to Marchand, who beat Skinner five-hole. The Oilers went from looking invincible to very vulnerable in about 360 seconds.
With about five minutes to go in the period, Marchand nearly tied the game when he capitalized on a turnover from Adam Henrique in the Edmonton zone. However, when he drove towards the net, his backhander rang off the post.
Third Period
McDavid scored nearly three minutes into the third period when Connor Brown fed him a one-timer in the slot to give the Oilers a 5-3 lead.
After both teams took turns turning over the puck with about 11 minutes to go in the frame, Seth Jones teed up a howitzer from the point, but he was denied a goal by the crossbar.
Tkachuk scored with nearly five minutes left in regulation on the power play after a failed attempt to clear the puck by Edmonton. Sam Reinhart ended up recovering the puck and setting up Tkachuk on a mini-breakaway to beat Skinner to make it a 5-4 game.
Florida pulled Bobrovsky with 40 seconds remaining, and after several failed attempts to hit the empty net, Edmonton held on for the 5-4 win to take a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Takeaways
Both of these teams are so good. After how we saw Edmonton erase a multi-goal deficit in Game 1, it’s possible that Florida could see a similar resurgence. But we’ll see who wins it!
Next Game
Game 2 takes place Friday night at Rogers Place. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. local time.