Panthers Defeat Oilers in Game 5, Take 3-2 Series Lead in Stanley Cup Final

The Panthers bounced back on Saturday night after a heartbreaking overtime loss in Game 4, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 at Rogers Place to take a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.

Florida will have a chance to win back-to-back Stanley Cups, on home ice, in Tuesday night’s Game 6 at Amerant Bank Arena.

With 10:48 to play in the first period, Brad Marchand, who has arguably been Florida’s top player in the series, opened the scoring — again.

Off a center-ice faceoff, Marchand jumped the draw before splitting the Oilers defense and roofing a glove-side shot over Calvin Pickard to put the Panthers up 1-0.

Speaking of top performers for the Panthers this series — or just this postseason in general — Sam Bennett, who entered the night with the most goals in the 2025 Playoffs, doubled the lead.

Off the rush, Bennett ripped a shot past Pickard for his 15th goal of the playoffs — in game No. 22 —  to put Florida up 2-0 with 1:54 to go in the opening period. Bennett’s goal contributions this postseason would be extraordinary for anybody in the league, but what makes the number even more impressive is that his regular season totals weren’t even close in comparison, scoring 25 times in 76 games.

The Panthers took a multi-goal lead into the first intermission for the third straight game.

After a goalless second period, the Panthers took a three-goal lead — for the second consecutive game — off an unreliable individual effort from 37-year-old Brad Marchand.

Marchand got his second goal of the game after turning Jake Walman inside-out with a deke and then slipping a backhander through Pickard’s five-hole for his 10th goal of the playoffs.

Down three, and desperately looking for life, Oilers captain Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the series 2:12 after Marchand’s second, cutting the deficit to 3-1 after dancing in the Panthers’ zone before slipping a puck past Bobrovsky.

Edmonton’s momentum slipped away less than one minute after McDavid got them on the board thanks to Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who extended his goal-streak to three games after ripping his seventh of the postseason top-shelf to put the Panthers up 4-1.

With 3:13 left in regulation, Corey Perry got the Oilers within two after scoring another late third period goal for his 10th of the postseason.

Eetu Luostarinen sealed the game with a nearly full-ice empty net goal from his own zone, putting the Panthers up 5-2 with 1:19 left in the third period.

The Stanley Cup will be in South Florida on Tuesday for Game 6 as the Panthers will try to win Lord Stanley’s greatest treasure, on home-ice, for the second straight season.