The Florida Panthers will look to add to its series lead when they host the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final tonight at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.
Florida forged ahead early when Carter Verhaeghe finished off a pretty Aleksander Barkov pass, and Sergei Bobrovsky made it stand up with a sensational 32-save performance as the Cats took the opening game by a 3-0 count. Evan Rodrigues ended a nine-game goalless drought in the second period and Eetu Luostarinen completed the scoring with a late empty-netter. Sam Bennett set up Rodrigues’ goal with a great chip-and-chase play, and Barkov added his second helper of the night on Luostarinen’s marker.
Although the Oilers were the better team during large stretches of the first two periods, and outshot Florida 32-18 for the game, the Panthers ability to score early in each of those frames forced Edmonton to play from behind for most of the night. Florida outhit the Oilers 57-32, blocked 21 shots, were credited with 11 takeaways and won 59.6% of the game’s draws.
Edmonton stars Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard combined for 17 of the team’s shots (53%), but could not solve Bobrovsky, who posted his second clean sheet of the playoffs. It looks like the Oilers will make some changes tonight, with defenseman Vincent Desharnais and forward Sam Carrick possibly joining the fray.
- WHEN: 8 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: ABC, ESPN+
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 92.1 Real Radio (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #LetsGoOilers, #EDMvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- SERIES: Florida leads series 1-0
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 3, EDM 0 – (Recap) 6/8/2024
- NEXT MEETING: Game 3 – June 13, 2024
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (13-5 .915 / 2.08 2SO) Edmonton: Skinner (11-6 .897 / 2.47 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Edmonton