Panthers Roll Oilers in Game 3, Take 2-1 Lead in Stanley Cup Final
SUNRISE, Fla. — Riding off the high of an emotional double-overtime road win in Game 2, the Florida Panthers got up early on the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 and didn’t look back.
In their home opener of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers steamrolled the Oilers 6-1 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday night to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
In Game 2, Brad Marchand was the hero for Florida. The 37-year-old scored their final two goals of the contest, with one of those being the double-overtime winner.
He continued where he left off in Monday night’s Game 3.
Just 56 seconds into the first, Marchand found the back of the net for his fourth goal of this Stanley Cup Final and 11th of his career, which is most among active NHL players. This was the fourth-fastest goal in Panthers playoff history and their fastest in a Stanley Cup Final.
With 2:15 left in the first, Carter Verhaeghe rifled a short-side shot above Stuart Skinner to put the Panthers up 2-0 with a power-play goal.
Prior to Verhaeghe’s goal, the Panthers were 0-3 on the man-advantage to that point, and 1-31 at home this postseason.
Starting the second period on a power play after Anton Lundell was called for a roughing penalty, Edmonton would finally get in the goal column.
Corey Perry got the Oilers on the board on the man-advantage, beating Sergei Bobrovsky for his 10th career Stanley Cup Final goal (second most among active players behind Marchand.
80 seconds following Edmonton’s first of the night, Florida reclaimed its two-goal lead thanks to Sam Reinhart’s first goal of the 2025 Cup Final.
Sam Bennett blew the game open 7:26 into the second, burying his playoff-leading 14th goal. Moments after delivering a crushing, open-ice hit on Vasily Podkolzin, Bennett roofed a breakaway shot underneath the bar to give Florida a 4-1 cushion.
Florida kept up their relentless attack, getting a fifth goal 3:27 into the third after Aaron Ekblad blasted away a one-timer on the power play for his first goal of the Cup Final.
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner’s night would come to an end after allowing the fifth-goal. In 43:27 he stopped 18 of 23 shots faced. Calvin Pickard came in for relief.
Evan Rodrigues beat Pickard with 3:50 to go in regulation, making it 6-1 with Florida’s third power-play goal of the night.
Like Michael Jordan declaring his comeback to the NBA players, the Panthers roared, “I’m back!” in Game 3. They had “Mamba Mentality”—a relentless, laser-like attack that made it seem as though Kobe Bryant was personally supervising each shift—and rode that Game 2 high.