Florida Panthers left wing Brad Marchand scored two goals to lead his team to a 5-2 road win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday evening. The Panthers now lead the best-of-seven series three games to two.
Marchand got the Panthers on the board first after he corralled a loose puck off a faceoff at center ice and took care of business himself, skating through two Oilers and firing the puck past Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard at 9:12 of the first period.
Florida then posted a multi-goal effort in the first period for the fifth time in five Stanley Cup Final games after Sam Bennett gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead at 18:06.
Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm turned the puck over around the red line to Sam Bennett, who fired a cross-ice pass to Matthew Tkachuk. The nine-year pro fired a shot at Pickard, but it was blocked. However, Bennett gathered the puck and fired it into the net for the 2-0 edge. That goal marked Bennett’s fifth in the Stanley Cup Final and 15th in the playoffs.
Neither team scored in the second period, but Oilers superstar Connor McDavid nearly cut the lead in half after firing a shot that hit the near post during a power play.
In the third period, Eetu Luostarinen simultaneously intercepted a cross-ice pass and knocked it ahead to Marchand. Once again, the ex-Boston Bruins legend split two Oilers players and took care of business himself for a 3-0 lead at 5:12.
McDavid got the Oilers on the board just two minutes later, beating Bobrovsky stick side after fielding a pass from Evan Bouchard.
Of course, at that moment, one had to wonder whether the Oilers had another three-goal comeback win in them after accomplishing the feat the game before en route to a 5-4 overtime victory.
However, turnovers killed the Oilers on this night, and the Panthers’ forwards were simply too dominant. Less than a minute after the McDavid goal, Aleksander Barkov forced a turnover and found Sam Reinhart, who took care of business for a 4-1 edge.
The Oilers did cut the lead to 4-2 when Corey Perry scored with an extra attacker on the ice.
However, Luostarinen answered with an empty-netter with 1:19 remaining in regulation to seal Florida’s 10th road playoff win.
Ultimately, the story of this game is Marchand, who now has six goals in this Stanley Cup Final and 12 all time, a record among active players.
The impending free agent, who landed in Florida via trade from Boston on March 7, joined an icon on an elite list along the way.
Marchand was a hero before, scoring a double overtime winner on the breakaway to seal a 5-4 victory in Game 2.
And now he’s the first star again as the Panthers find themselves on the doorstep another Cup. Naturally, fans and analysts alike were thrilled with his performance.
Florida will host Game 6 on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. A win will cement back-to-back Stanley Cups over the Panthers. A loss sends the Cup back to Edmonton for Game 7 on Friday at 8 p.m.
