Another overtime thriller: This time, the Panthers win to even Stanley Cup Final

Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald on Jun 7, 2025

Published in Hockey

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EDMONTON, Alberta — Two games into this Stanley Cup Final rematch between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers. Two absolutely thrilling games of hockey, both of which went to overtime.

And, most importantly for the Panthers, a split so far in the series as the games shift to South Florida.

After falling in overtime in the series opener, Brad Marchand scored 8:05 into double overtime on Friday to give the Panthers a 5-4 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 on Friday at Rogers Place to level the best-of-7 series at 1-1.

Game 3 from Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena will be at 8 p.m. Monday.

Florida used a two-goal second period to take a 4-3 lead and came oh-so-close to that score holding in regulation, but Edmonton’s Corey Perry tied the game with 17.8 seconds left to force overtime for a second consecutive game.

It’s the first time since 2014 that a Stanley Cup Final series saw each of its first two games go to overtime.

Perry picked up a rebound from a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shot from the point, muscled past Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen in the slot and managed to get the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky to even the game at 4-4.

It was Edmonton’s first goal since a Leon Draisaitl goal with 7:23 left in the first period, a wild frame that saw five goals (by Sam Bennett and Seth Jones for Florida; Evander Kane, Evan Bouchard and Draisaitl for Edmonton), 50 shot attempts and 11 penalties in the first 20 minutes.

It ended a stretch of 47:11 in which the Panthers kept the Oilers off the board and mounted a comeback.

Florida’s second-period goals came from Dmitry Kulikov from the point and Marchand on a shorthanded breakaway to take a 4-3 lead with 7:51 left in the middle frame that looked like it would hold.

The Panthers dominated the second period to the tune of a 34-13 edge in shot attempts plus advantages of 14-9 in shots on goal, 18-10 in scoring chances and 7-3 in high-danger chances.

The second period was also Florida’s best period in the series opener but the fizzled down the stretch, giving up the game-tying goal in the third and losing with 31 seconds left in overtime on a Draisaitl power-play goal.

For 19:42 into the third, Florida kept Edmonton at bay. The Oilers managed to tie it, but the Panthers found a way in the end to win. And now the series is tied.