The Panthers prevented heartbreak on Friday night in Edmonton.

 

Over four hours after opening puck drop, Brad Marchand scored the double-overtime winner, leading the Panthers to a 5-4 win over the Oilers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, tying the series at 1-1.

 

Marchand, who was acquired at the trade deadline, has 63 career goals in the playoffs — with 10 of those coming in the Stanley Cup Final. He now is tied for 3rd all-time (alongside teammate Carter Verhaeghe) for most career playoff overtime goals with five.

 

Florida went to the power play just 37 seconds into the game after Evander Kane was called for a high-stick.

 

On the man-advantage, Sam Bennett, who entered Friday as the Panthers’ all-time goal leader in a single postseason (12 goals), opened the scoring 2:07 into the first with his 13th goal of the playoffs.

 

After taking the penalty which led to Florida’s first goal, Kane got his redemption 7:39 into the period after he beat Bobrovsky blocker-side with a shot off the rush to tie the game at 1-1.

 

Less than two minutes after tying the game, Evan Bouchard gave Edmonton a 2-1 lead when he beat an unsuspecting Bobrovsky with a wrist shot from the slot during 4-on-4 action.

 

After conceding two unanswered goals, Seth Jones helped the Panthers stop the bleeding, tying the game at 2-2 with his fourth goal of the playoffs 11:37 into the first.

 

On the shift after Jones’ goal, Bennett collided with Skinner — due in large part to Mattis Ekholm driving him into the crease — knocking the Oilers goalie to his back. Bennett would be called for goaltender interference, putting Edmonton back on the man-advantage.

 

With the power play, Leon Draisaitl put the Oilers ahead again with his third goal of the series after Connor McDavid danced past both Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad before threading a cross-seam pass to Draisaitl, who put Edmonton up 3-2 exactly one minute after Florida had tied the game.

 

The home town Oilers took a 3-2 lead to the dressing room after a wild, back-and-forth opening 20 minutes in Edmonton.

 

Florida tied the game once again 8:23 into the second thanks to Dmitry Kulikov’s point-shot hitting Bouchard before finding its way past Skinner to even things up at 3-3.

 

Marchand put the Panthers up 4-3 with a shorthanded breakaway goal 12:09 into the second, beating Skinner five-hole for his sixth goal of the postseason.

 

With time ticking down, Corey Perry heroically tied the game with just 17.8 seconds left in regulation. Tangled up in front of Florida’s goal, Perry was able to get enough lumber on the puck to beat Bobrovsky, tying the game at 4-4 to force a second straight overtime game in this series.

 

Now tied at one-game a piece, the series transitions to South Florida for Games 3 and 4. Game 3 will be at 8 p.m. EST on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.

Leon Draisaitl was the overtime hero in Game 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers 4-3, taking a 1-0 lead at Rogers place on Wednesday night.

 

With 1:45 to go in overtime, Panthers forward Tomas Nosek put the Oilers on the power play after taking a delay of game penalty for clearing the puck over the glass inside his own zone.

 

Drasaitl made the Panthers pay on the man-advantage, scoring his second goal of the night with 31 seconds to go in the first overtime, leading Edmonton to the Game 1 win.

 

In the win, Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner had 29 saves and stopped all six Panthers’ shots.

 

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 42 of 46 shots faced in the loss.

 

Just 66 seconds into the series, an unmarked Leon Draisaitl scored the first goal of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final after putting away a second rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky.

 

Draisaitl went goalless in seven games during last year’s final.

 

Just about midway through the first, Carter Verhaeghe fired a puck towards goal that deflected off of Sam Bennett, who had fallen backwards towards Oilers’ goaltender Stuart Skinner, into the net, tying the game at 1-1. Edmonton challenged that Bennett interfered with Skinner — which he certainly did — prior to the puck going in. However, the goal would count after review showed Bennett was tripped by Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak. Florida would go to the power play as a result of the failed challenge.

 

With his 11th goal of the postseason, Bennett moved into a tie with teammates Matthew Tkachuk (2022-23) and Carter Verhaeghe (2023-24) for most goals in a single postseason in Panthers history.

 

On the subsequent power play following the unsuccessful coach’s challenge, Brad Marchand put the Panthers up 2-1 with his 61st career playoff goal and eighth in the Stanley Cup Final.

 

Despite conceding just over a minute into the game and being outshot 15-7 in the period, Florida went to the first intermission with a one-goal lead.

 

Exactly two minutes into the second period, Bennett scored his second of the night, giving Florida a 3-1 lead with his 12th goal of the playoffs — the most in one postseason in Panthers history.

 

The Oilers got one back just 1:17 after Florida took a two-goal lead after Viktor Arvidsson blasted a slap shot underneath Bobrovsky’s glove, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

 

6:33 into the third, the Oilers scored a second unanswered goal to tie the game at 3-3 after Mattias Ekholm beat Bobrovsky through a screen with his first goal of the postseason.

 

In last year’s final that went the distance, none of the seven games saw a game go past regulation.

 

This time around, 60 minutes wouldn’t be enough as the team’s ended the third tied 3-3, setting up overtime in Game 1.