Edmonton survives! The Oilers deny the Florida Panthers their first Stanley Cup again in 5-3 victory, sending series back to Canada for Game 6
The Edmonton Oilers aren’t done yet! Canada’s last hope of ending the country’s more than three-decade Stanley Cup drought did not extend the wait for at least a year on Monday against the Florida Panthers.
The Oilers scored four of the game’s first five goals and held off a furious Panthers rally to send the series back to Alberta with a 5-3 victory in Game 5, giving Florida a third straight game in which a win NHL season ends in three days.
Game 6 is Friday night in Edmonton. The teams have spilled the previous two games at Rogers Place so far in the series.
The Oilers quieted the Florida crowd early with a shorthanded goal from Connor Brown in the first period.
It was the first time in Stanley Cup Finals history that a team opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal in consecutive games.
The Edmonton Oilers extended the Stanley Cup Finals by at least one game on Friday
Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner was fantastic in the late stages of the Game 5 win
To end the first period, the Panthers did not have a shot on goal in the final 14 minutes of the period, and only one after Brown’s marker.
The Oilers also came out flying in the second period, with two quick goals from Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid to take a three-goal lead.
Florida finally showed life six minutes into the second period on a goal from Matthew Tkachuk.
McDavid showed his wizardry less than two minutes later, picking off a Panthers defender and setting up Corey Perry with a tap-in to give the Oilers a 4-1 lead.
The rest of the game was focused on the Edmonton net, but the Oilers didn’t bend or break to relinquish the lead.
An Evan Rodrigues tap-in made the score 4-2, and a one-timer from Oliver Ekman-Larsson brought the Panthers within one with 16 minutes remaining.
From that point on, the Oilers successfully stood on their heads as the Panthers seemingly had all the momentum.
Edmonton could finally breathe after McDavid’s second goal of the game into an empty net with 19 seconds left.
Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner had 30 saves in the game and was one of the key cogs that sent the championship series back to Alberta.