We’re witnessing greatness.
The Conn Smythe has Brad Marchand’s name written all over it at this point.
The 37-year-old became the first player since 1988 to score six goals in one Stanley Cup Final. Marchand scored twice to join Esa Tikkanen in the history books. To further illustrate the absurdity of this, Tikkanen was 23 years old when he achieved the same feat. Marchand also joined Mario Lemieux as the only players in the past 50 years to score five-plus goals in a final multiple times, and his 13 career goals in the final are the highest among active players.
Sam Bennett also scored his NHL playoff-leading 15th goal, and the Florida Panthers moved one victory away from their second straight Stanley Cup championship by beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Game 5 on Saturday night.
Florida continued to be road warriors. The victory improved their road record to 10-3. Unlike in Game 4, the Oilers did not make a comeback, and Sergei Bobrovsky was a stud in the net as he stopped 19 of 21 shots.
Connor McDavid scored his first of the series after the Oilers fell behind 3-0, but it came during garbage time. Sam Reinhart scored 46 seconds later for the Panthers, and Corey Perry also scored late for Edmonton, but it was too little, too late.
Eetu Luostarinen sealed the deal with an empty-netter with 1:19 left to silence the crowd.
Calvin Pickard made 14 saves in a mediocre effort.
First Period
To start off, Connor Brown broke free in the early moments of the game and unloaded a wrist shot, but Bobrovsky gloved it.
Just over nine minutes into the opening frame, Marchand scored to make it a 1-0 Florida game. After the Panthers won the draw, Marchand took control of the puck, caught Mattias Ekholm flat-footed and skated around him, and snapped a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Pickard.
Edmonton didn’t commit the first penalty of the game for a change. Defenseman Seth Jones ended up doing the deed as he was called for interference with 4:16 remaining in the period to give the Oilers their first man advantage of the game.
The ensuing power play was lackadaisical, to say the least, and Florida made it 2-0 with 1:54 to go when Bennett fired a rebound off Tkachuk’s initial shot. It was the second straight bad goal given up by Pickard.
On the very next play, Edmonton added insult to injury with a penalty when Vasily Podkolzin tripped Dmitry Kulikov.
Third Period
Following a scoreless second period, Marchand delivered when it mattered again. He intelligently pressured Jake Walman into a bad cross-ice pass that was intercepted by Luostarinen, who chipped the puck to Marchand, who outclassed Walman again and beat Pickard five-hole to give Florida a 3-0 lead.
Just over two minutes later, McDavid scored his first of the series to cut the deficit to two. After getting knocked to the ice moments before, he rose to his feet, accepted a pass from Bouchard in the left circle, and McDavid went backhand/forehand to fool Bobrovsky.
Edmonton never had a chance to enjoy any momentum from the goal as Pickard gave up another quick one when Reinhart scored his seventh of the postseason with a snap shot from the slot.
Perry got one back with 3:13 left in regulation when he ripped a slap shot from the point that beat Bobrovsky. Despite pulling Pickard for the extra attacker, Florida won a faceoff in their own zone, and Luostarinen put the game away at 5-2 with an empty-net goal.
Takeaways
You know, maybe starting their backup wasn’t such a great idea, given how erratic he was in the previous game. Sure, Stuart Skinner could have been better, but when you’re taking more than 20 penalties in the game, perhaps there’s more to blame than just your goaltender. The Panthers are just a better team, and that’s that.
Next Game
Florida can clinch the Stanley Cup at home on Tuesday when the Stanley Cup Final returns to Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. local time.