SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final after their 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night in Sunrise. 

The series will shift to Edmonton for games 3 and 4 — with the Panthers just two wins away from the Stanley Cup. 

After conceding on the first shot of the game, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped the next 18 shots he faced, leading his team to their 14th win of the postseason. 

Looking to bounce back after their Game 1 loss, the Oilers put themselves in a not so ideal situation early in the game. 

9:21 into the first, Oilers forward Warren Foegle was ejected from the game 9:21 into the first period after he was given a major penalty for kneeing Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen.

Luostarinen took some time to get up following the hit, but he returned to the ice later in the period. 

Florida’s extended power play only lasted 1:37 after Oliver Ekman-Larsson was called for a tripping penalty.

On the subsequent 4-on-4, Mattias Ekholm scored the Oilers first goal of the series — on their first shot of the game — 11:17 into the first. 

Down 1-0 in the second, Niko Mikkola tied the game 9:34 into period with his second goal of the playoffs.

“I think we were pretty god at the start [of the game] — even if we were down one goal,” Mikkola said. “Everybody was calm and trusting the process. We were trusting that we were going to get the chances and I was real lucky, got the one through.”

The 1-1 score held into the second intermission.

Evan Rodrigues has had himself one heck of a start to his first trip in the Stanley Cup Final. He scored his first career SCF goal in Game 1. He’d one up that on Monday night.

Rodrigues gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead 3:11 into the third, scoring his fifth goal of the postseason — this would be the eventual game winner.

“It doesn’t matter who it is. We’re looking for wins here,” Rodrigues said. “We’re happy with the results in our first two.”

Just about halfway through the third, the Panthers suffered a brutal blow when their captain Aleksander Barkov left the game after taking an elbow to the face/jaw area from Leon Draisatl. 

Barkov immediately fell down to the ice and didn’t get up until the trainers came to assist him. He would not return to the game, while Draisaitl was given a two-minute minor penalty on the play. 

As for what the Panthers thought of the hit, a few players wouldn’t give a comment post game, while head coach Paul Maurice didn’t vocalize his opinion either. 

“This isn’t the Oprah Winfrey show. My feelings don’t matter,” Maurice said.

There was no update postgame regarding Barkov’s health.

The Panthers quickly rallied despite the loss of their captain — cashing in on the power play from Rodrigues’ second goal of the game. Florida led 3-1 with 7:34 left in the game. 

Through the first two games of the series, Rodrigues has more goals (three) than the entire Oilers team has (one). He has 11 points thus far in the playoffs. 

Aaron Ekblad iced the game with an empty net goal, his first of the playoffs, as the Panthers walked away with a 4-1 win. 

There will be two full days off before Game 3, which will be Thursday, June 13 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers took a 1-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night after their 3-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

Carter Verhaeghe’s opening goal 3:59 into the game ended up being the game winner. This was Verhaeghe’s 25th career playoff goal and his 10th playoff winner. 

“He’s an unusual performer that man,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of Verhaeghe. “He is so good in the most intense and almost chaotic play… that guy’s a gamer.”

Evan Rodrigues doubled the Panthers lead early in the second period — scoring in his first career Stanley Cup Final game.

Eetu Luostarinen, who missed last year’s final with an injury, sealed the 3-0 with an empty netter. 

While Florida dominated the scoreboard, that wasn’t the case in the game.

The Oilers pushed the Panthers more than most teams have in these playoffs — finishing the game with a 32-18 shot advantage and 70-42 shot attempts, per Natural Stat Trick. 

Everything the Oilers had was thrown towards the Panthers’ goal — but what it found was the brick wall of Sergei Bobrovsky. 

The Panthers netminder stopped all 32 shots he faced — 13 of those being high danger chances — for hiss third career postseason shutout.

“I think that’s the game that most goaltenders are used to — the higher volume, more consistency,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of Bobrovsky facing a higher than usual workload. “But that’s truly the advantage for us in having a guy that’s seen it all at this point in his career.”

32 shots against was tied for the most Bobrovsky has seen all postseason (happened three times). Entering Game 1, the Panthera allowed an average of 24 shots per game. 

“He’s had quiet times, he’s had very very busy nights,” Maurice added. “He’s clearly capable of operating at a high level in both.”

Florida didn’t have many chances, but they made the few count. They got two pucks past Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner on their first five shots and were able to suppress a third period push from Edmonton, giving up just seven shots in the final frame. 

They take a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history and will have a chance to go up 2-0, Monday night at home. 

“It’s just one,” Matthew Tkachuk said after the win. “Obviously you really want to take care of the first one, especially on home ice. Now [we’re] just looking forward to Game 2… it always feels good to win but we’ve got a lot of things to clean up and to get better at.”

In the last 18 seasons, teams that won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final went on to win the Cup 14 times. 

SUNRISE —  The Florida Panthers are getting their chance for redemption as they punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final for a second consecutive season.

On Saturday night, the Panthers defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final — keeping the Prince of Wales Trophy in Sunrise. 

The Panthers become the first team to get back to the Stanley Cup Final the season after losing since the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins. 

“Not winning last year obviously pushed all the returning guys to be even better at the start of training camp,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “We’re very proud to be here, we’re very happy, but the job’s not finished.”

This will be the third Cup Final appearance in Panthers history, with the previous two coming in 1996 and last season in 2023. They have never won the Stanley Cup in the franchise’s history.

Florida’s Cup Final opponent will be the winner of the Dallas Stars — Edmonton Oilers series. Edmonton currently leads 3-2.

If the Oilers were to win their series, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final will be in Sunrise on June 8. If the Stars win, Game 1 will be in Dallas on the same day.

Sam Bennett has played a big role for the Panthers this series and he was responsible for the first goal of the game.

With 50 seconds remaining in the first, Bennett one-timed a feed from Evan Rodrigues, top shelf for his sixth goal of the playoffs — putting the Panthers up 1-0 just before the intermission.

After a scoreless second frame, the Panthers were 20 minutes away from ending the series and clinching a berth to the Stanley Cup Final.

Florida’s third line of Anton Lundell, Vladimir Tarasenko and Eetu Luostarinen were responsible  for a huge go ahead goal in Game 5 on Thursday.

They did it again tonight.

Tarasenko gave Florida a 2-0 lead with 10:52 left in the third after burying a backdoor feed from Anton Lundell.

“He works really hard,” Sergei Bobrovsky said of his countryman and teammate. “Definitely happy for him (to score).”

Like they did in Game 5, New York didn’t go away down two.

With 1:39 left in regulation, Artemi Panarin scored his first goal of the series — cutting Florida’s lead in half.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, the late surge wouldn’t be enough as the Panthers held on for a 2-1 victory to win the Eastern Conference Final.

Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky saved 23 of the 24 shots he faced — winning his 12th game of the postseason. Bobrovsky has given up two or fewer goals in 13 of his 17 starts in this playoff.

“It’s remarkable. He’s been an absolute stud all year and especially in the biggest games,” Sam Bennett said of Bobrovsky’s play. “That seems to be when he’s playing his best hockey, which is incredible.”

The Florida Panthers are just one win away from consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances after they defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. 

Anton Lundell scored the ‘defacto’ game winner — at least how Panthers head coach Paul Maurice put it — putting the Panthers up 2-1 with 9:38 to go in the third.

“That was huge,” Lundell said when asked of his goal. “We had some good chances in the third and we were playing really good. [It] felt like we had chances after chances. Just kept grinding and trusted that we were going to get the chance and a goal.”

The 22-year-old has been huge this postseason, putting up 11 points in 16 games.

“Anton Lundell. I have absolutely no idea how good he can be,” Paul Maurice said. “But we’re going to find out, it’s just going to take a little while.”

Sam Bennett had the official game winner when he buried an empty net goal with 1:52 left in regulation.

Down two, the Rangers pulled goaltender Igor Shesterkin one more time and they scored —  cutting Florida’s lead to 3-2 with 50 seconds left in the game, but the effort came up to late as the Panthers won their second road game of the series. 

2:04 into the second, Chris Kreider opened the game’s scoring when he buried the Rangers’ sixth shorthanded goal of the postseason on a breakaway.

“We have great composure. Our starts haven’t been great, haven’t been what we wanted,” Bennett said. “It just seems as the game goes on we’re getting better and better. I think that contributes to our composure and willingness to keep playing the same way.”

The Panthers got their first goal six minutes later, tying it after Gustav Forsling put away his fourth goal of the playoffs with a backhander over Shesterkin. 

Florida has been great away from Sunrise in the postseason, holding a 6-2-0 on the road.

Despite their success in other team’s barns, they’ll hope a trip back to New York isn’t in the plan for a couple of months as they hold a 3-2 series lead and can win the Eastern Confernce on Saturday in South Florida.

While they are one win away from consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov isn’t looking ahead, rather focusing on finishing the current task.

“Right now I just need to recover and think about that,” Barkov said. “When the game comes you think about the game. That’s all we can do right now. We don’t want to think too much ahead.”