Stuart Skinner was yanked in the third period.
This one wasn’t close.
Sam Bennett scored his NHL-leading 14th goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves, and the Florida Panthers smacked the Edmonton Oilers 6-1 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.
Brad Marchand continued his hot streak when he scored for the third straight game. Sam Reinhart bounced back after a rough start with a goal and an assist. Evan Rodrigues and Carter Verhaeghe also each had a goal and an assist, and Eetu Luostarinen had two assists. Which team has the better depth? It’s hard to argue against Florida, which took a 2-1 series lead in their best-of-seven series.
Corey Perry scored on the power play for Edmonton, but that was it for scoring. Stuart Skinner was yanked at 3:27 of the third period after allowing five goals on 23 shots. Calvin Pickard made seven saves in relief.
The game ultimately came down to capitalizing on mistakes, and the Panthers made the Oilers pay by scoring three power play goals. There were a combined 35 penalties, and the Oilers accounted for 21 of them.
The Game
Marchand scored 56 seconds into the game when he fired a goal by a diving Skinner to become the first player in Stanley Cup Final history to score an overtime goal and score in the first minute of the following matchup. He scored 8:05 into the second overtime Friday to give the Panthers a 5-4 win in Game 2 in Edmonton.
The 37-year-old also became the oldest player in Cup Final history to score in the first three games of the series. He outperformed Frank Mahovlich, who was 35 when he scored in the first three games of the 1973 Stanley Cup Final for the Montreal Canadiens against the Chicago Black Hawks.
Verhaeghe made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 17:45 after Viktor Arvidsson was called for goaltender interference. Verhaeghe fired a shot into the top left corner of the net from the left circle. After five power plays in the first period Florida held on to a tenuous lead.
Edmonton struck quickly with Corey Perry’s power-play goal 1:40 into the second period cut it to made it a one-goal game but It didn’t take long for the Panthers to break the game wide open as Reinhart scored 80 seconds later to make it 3-1. Aleksander Barkov forced John Klingberg into a turnover in Edmonton’s defensive zone. Verhaeghe recovered the puck and set up Reinhart, who scored from the left circle.
Bennett extended the bleeding to 4-1 at 7:26, scoring his fourth goal of the Cup Final on a breakaway set up by Luostarinen. Bennett outsmarted Skinner on a backhand-forehand deke to secure the goal and the three-goal lead to close out the second period.
It was all but over by then but Aaron Ekblad made it 5-1 with a power-play goal 3:27 of the third period, sending Skinner to the showers. The Oilers have been a resilient team but there wasn’t a comeback in them tonight as they just started a series of line brawls which sent six Oilers out of the game with misconducts and three for Florida.
When it truly was over, Evan Rodrigues added a power-play goal with 3:50 left in regulation to finish off the Oilers with a 6-1 win and take control of the series.
Takeaways
To go from two overtime games to a beatdown is a tough way to go for Edmonton. Skinner will have to play better, or they could be forced to give Pickard a shot. It’s tough, but they can’t afford to lose another game. The Panthers are just too deep and too smart.
Next Game
Florida has another shot at home to try and make it a 3-1 series lead. Game 4 takes place on Thursday. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. local time.