After two toughies in Edmonton, the Florida Panthers returned home and blew the Oilers out of the building by a 6-1 count in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.
Game 2 hero Brad Marchand opened the scoring 56 seconds in when he beat a swimming Stuart Skinner after Anton Lundell caused chaos in front after an offensive zone faceoff win. Lundell claimed possession in the lower right circle and threw puck in front as he rounded the net. It struck the skates of Darnell Nurse, Eetu Luostarinen and Marchand before coming back to Lundell, who whacked it to Marchand. Marchand took the puck off his skate and fired it home after a lost Skinner pulled himself out of position.
The Panthers failed to add on on their first three man-advantage chances, but the fourth one would prove to be the charm. After trading passes with Sam Bennett on the right side, Nate Schmidt found Evan Rodrigues open in the high slot and he moved the puck over to Carter Verhaeghe. Verhaeghe saw space above Skinner’s right shoulder and ripped a shot off the post and in for his first of the series at 17:45.
Immediately after the first period buzzer sounded, Lundell popped Evan Bouchard in the mug, putting the Oilers up a man to start the second and they would cash in for their only goal when Bouchard played catch out high with Mattias Ekholm before putting the puck down low for Corey Perry. The 40-year-old deftly snared Bouchard’s soft pass and lifted the puck over Sergei Bobrovsky at the 1:40 mark.
Sam Reinhart would restore the two-goal advantage with a key tally 1:20 later. After a forechecking Aleksander Barkov, John Klingberg and a zebra went down in a heap, Verhaeghe claimed the loose puck and backhanded it to Reinhart and he fired the puck through the legs of defenseman Jake Walman and past Skinner, who had no chance on the shot.
An incredible effort by Bennett resulted in Florida’s fourth goal at 7:26. A backchecking Bennett first hammered Vasily Podkolzin to the ice and then banged Klingberg into the boards. The rattled Oilers tried to maintain possession, but Luostarinen stole the biscuit from Podkolzin and sent Bennett away on a breakaway. Powered by a full head of steam, Bennett went backhand-to-forehand and slammed the puck into the back of the net to electrify the Panthers faithful.
Skinner would shoot the puck directly into the crowd to give the Cats a power-play chance early in the third and they would convert to make it 5-1. Following an exchange of the puck and positions with Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk passed to Reinhart in the right circle and he sent a beautiful backhand fed over to a wide-open Aaron Ekblad, who easily solved Skinner short-side with a wrister at 3:27, bringing Calvin Pickard into the game.
While the game degenerated into something resembling Mortal Combat the rest of the way, the Cats would create one more goal to complete the scoring when Niko Mikkola teed up Rodrigues for a bomb from the left circle with 3:50 left in the rout. Gustav Forsling would draw the second assist on Florida’s third power-play marker of the night, which came with Florida’s enjoying a two-man advantage.
Verhaeghe, Reinhart and Rodrigues each finished with a goal and an assist and Luostarinen joined the multi-point parade with a pair of helpers. Bobrovsky stopped 32 shots and was particularly good in the early going when Edmonton was feverishly trying to match Marchand’s goal and had three first period power-play chances before Verhaeghe put the Cats up by two. The Panthers were dominant while the Oilers played their worst game since the opening round against Los Angeles, resulting in the unexpected blowout that saw the teams combine for 140 PIM.
Stanley Stuff
- Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand have scored in each game of the series. Bennett leads the league with 14 goals and the Panthers with 20 points. Marchand (37) is the oldest player to ever score in the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final. In addition to amassing 18 points, he is now plus-15.
- First Star Carter Verhaeghe set a franchise record with his ninth career postseason power-play goal. After collecting three assists over the first two games, Verhaeghe’s goal and assist last night have him at 19 points, which is second-most on the club.
- Second Star Sam Reinhart lit the lamp for the first time since Game 7 of the Toronto series. He was one of three Panthers (Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk were the others) to finish with four shots on goal.
- While Aleksander Barkov remained without a point in the Final, he did play a part in both the Reinhart and Aaron Ekblad goals. Barkov won 12 faceoffs, was credited with a shot and a block, and finished plus-one.
- Nate Schmidt’s helper on Verhaeghe’s was his fifth assist of the series, tying him with Connor McDavid, who was held to just two shots on goal. His buddy Leon Draisaitl didn’t have any.
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