The Florida Panthers are two wins away from their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Evan Rodrigues scored two goals in the third period. Niko Mikkola and Aaron Ekblad also scored, and the Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.
The stat of this Stanley Cup Final is that no one with the first name Evan has ever won the Stanley Cup Final. After this series with Oilers’ Evan Bouchard or Rodrigues of the Panthers, that will change.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 shots for Florida, which was 1-8 all-time in Cup Final games before this series started.
“We have a great group of guys, we know our system, we stick with the system,” Bobrovsky said. “The most important thing is we are enjoying our time. When the game is on the line everyone gets excited to make a play.”
Bobrovsky stopped 50 of 51 shots this series.
Heading to Edmonton up 2-0 in the series, the Panthers keep building their game.
“We have the same game plan, play really hard, play in their face,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “Keep the gaps good, play simple, move your feet and get some hits. We did a really good job of that tonight.”
It was the seventh comeback win this postseason for the Panthers.
The win came with injury concern for the Panthers. Their captain, Aleksander Barkov captain did not finish the game when Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl launched toward him midway through the third period and hit him in the head.
“This isn’t the Oprah Winfrey show, my feelings don’t matter,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice when asked about the hit on Barkov.
Barkov remained down for some time, needed help getting to the bench, and went down the tunnel to the Florida locker room for further evaluation. His status remains in the air for game three.
Mattias Ekholm scored, and Stuart Skinner stopped 24 shots for the Oilers.
“We can be better for sure,” Conner McDavid of the Oilers said. “They went up a level and we did not match it today.”
The Oilers have successfully rallied from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series only once — against San Jose in Round 2 of the 2006 playoffs. And teams that start the Stanley Cup Final down 2-0 have come back to win only five times in 54 previous circumstances.
“It is exciting; it is another opportunity for our group to come together and dig our way out,” McDavid added. “It is supposed to be hard, suppose to be difficult. I’m excited to see what our group is made of. I’m excited to see us fight through adversity. Looking forward to people doubting us again. We are good with our backs against the wall.”
McDavid, a three-time recipient of the Hart Memorial Trophy, has not scored in this series, and the Oilers were 0-4 on power plays in game two.
The Oilers have not been dominated in the first two games; they have lost but not dominated, which they can take back home with them as a positive. If they are going to get back in the series, their power play is what will help them. They have not succeeded in their power plays because the Panthers have taken them away. The Oilers will need to move the pucks through the seams and the box area and get a clean look at shots. They will have to start pounding the puck from the point, get in front of Bobrovsky, get some deflections, and get some rebounds. If they don’t begin to do something different, it will have the same result.
Oilers need to keep their emotions in check and follow the lead of their captain, McDavid. He has been great at it and not gone overboard. When they continue to take penalties, they get their star players out of rhythm. They are not on the ice all the time. The five-minute penalty in game two was a big deal. In the Stanley Cup Final, your emotions have to stay in check.
The series resumes with Game 3 in Edmonton on Thursday night.
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