RECAP: Panthers 5, Oilers 2

EDMONTON – The ball – or should I say Cup? – is in their court now.

Taking a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup Final, the Florida Panthers grabbed an early lead and never looked back in a gripping 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Taking their first whack at winning the Cup, Game 6 will be in Sunrise on Tuesday.

For the defending champs, these aren’t uncharted waters.

“It’s a great opportunity,” forward Sam Bennett said. “We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. It’s going to be the hardest game. We know that. Yeah, the job’s not done yet.”

Digging in early, Sergei Bobrovsky came up in the clutch for the Panthers when he shut down Connor Brown on a breakaway with a glove save just 29 seconds into the first period.

Despite facing only three shots in the period, “Playoff Bob” kept the arena quiet.

“I thought Sergei in the first 10 minutes got tested hard,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “They came out right. They were fast through the neutral zone. There were a couple times he had to make a couple of big saves. If you’re on the road and can keep the building from lighting up in the first 10 minutes, that’s just a big part of the emotions of what goes on.”

Continuing his own stellar playoff run, Brad Marchand opened the scoring for the Panthers when he grabbed the puck after a faceoff win at center ice, sped through the defense and then fired a shot past Calvin Pickard into the far corner of the cage to make it 1-0 at 9:12.

With the crowd willing the officials to a whistle, the Oilers found themselves with a chance to tie things up later on the power play, but were held without a shot over the two minutes.

Feeding off that penalty kill, the Panthers pounced and doubled their lead when Bennett took a loose puck after a blocked shot and ripped the rubber into the twine from the left circle to make it 2-0 at 18:06 with his NHL-leading 15^th goal of the playoffs.

Increasing his own NHL record, it was also Bennett’s 13^th goal on the road this postseason.

“It’s just his game,” forward Sam Reinhart said. “It translates so well this time of year.”

As it was in the first period, the penalty kill was up to the task again in the second.

On the first of two kills they’d make during the middle frame, Bobrovsky had to make three saves after the Oilers went nearly 16 minutes without registering a single shot on goal. On the second kill, the Panthers showed off some good sticks and also blocked three shots.

In the series, Florida's penalty kill is operating at 82.6% against Edmonton’s vaunted power play.

“I think we had a whole minute on the PK without a stick, which is never a fun thing,” said defenseman Aaron Ekblad, one of the team's top killers. “Proud of the guys for getting it done.”

After 40 minutes, the Panthers led 16-8 in scoring chances at 5-on-5.

Holding the Oilers without a shot on goal for more than five minutes to start the third period, the Panthers looked like a team on a mission at the outset of the final frame.

Extending the lead with a goal that will live in highlight reels forever, Marchand undressed Jake Walman before making another disgusting deke and tucking a shot past Pickard to put the Panthers on top 3-0 at 5:12 with his second huge goal of the game.

“Those are the goals you look at on YouTube when you’re a kid,” forward Anton Lundell said. “You try to go out and practice them yourself. We’re all pretty amazed by him.”

Giving the home crowd some hope, Connor McDavid briefly made it a two-goal game when he scored to spoil Bobrovsky’s shutout bid and cut Edmonton’s deficit down to 3-1 at 7:24.

But less than a minute later, Reinhart took a pass from Aleksander Barkov and beat Pickard with a nasty snipe from the left circle to put the Panthers up 4-1 at 8:10. A great shift from the top line, both Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe put in work behind the net to get the job done.

Facing a daunting deficit, the Oilers pulled Pickard for the extra attacker with 4:56 left.

Getting one goal back, Corey Perry threaded a booming slap shot through traffic and past Bobrovsky to cut Edmonton’s deficit to 4-2 at 16:47. But with just 1:19 left in the game, Eetu Luostarinen stomped out the comeback attempt with a long empty-net goal to make it 5-2.

With a chance to repeat as champions, the Panthers are all business heading into Game 6.

“The idea of creating an atmosphere of all business is importance for us,” Ekblad said. “We want to move on, recover and approach the game the same way we did today.”

THEY SAID IT

“It’s extremely tough. It’s a moment you think about your whole life. It’s in the back of your head. I think we can just learn from that experience last year.” – Sam Bennett on trying to close out the series in Game 6

“It’s a team effort defending guys like that. We’ve known all series the challenge is there for us. No one really cares in our locker room and who’s producing and when.” – Sam Reinhart on the top line being tasked with shutting down Connor McDavid

“It was a great effort for 60 minutes. We defend by creating a low amount of time and space for their players, so that’s a full team effort. It’s up and down the ice.” – Aaron Ekblad on defending the Oilers in Game 5

“It was huge. It’s always big, especially against that team who has some really good players. They’ve been really good on the power play, so it was huge today.” – Anton Lundell on the penalty kill

CATS STATS

- The Panther have outscored the Oilers 7-0 in the first period over the last three games.

- Sam Bennett became the fifth player in NHL history to register a six-game road goal streak in the playoffs.

- Brad Marchand became the seventh player in NHL history to record five goals in multiple Stanley Cup Finals, his first being back in 2011 as a member of the Boston Bruins.

- The Panthers improved to 10-3 on the road this postseason.

- Sergei Bobrovsky tied the NHL record for most road wins in single postseason by a goaltender with 10.

- Florida’s 89 goals are the most by a team in a playoff run in 31 years.

- The Panthers scored at least five goals for the 12^th time this postseason.

- Aaron Ekblad recorded a team-high seven hits.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Just one more win to go.

Trying to repeat as Stanley Cup champions for the second straight season in front of their own fans, the Panthers will host the Oilers for Game 6 at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.

For tickets, click HERE.