If Game 1 was about Sergei Bobrovsky, Game 2 belonged to Florida’s entire defense.
The Panthers stifled Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night to secure a 4-1 win in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. Evan Rodrigues scored two goals as Florida secured a 29-19 lead in shots on goal. The Panthers now have a commanding 2-0 lead and the series will shift to Edmonton for Game 3.
Oilers strike first despite stagnant offense
Florida set the tone early, putting six shots on goal before Edmonton scored its first. But it didn’t pay off on the scoreboard as Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner stopped any offering and opened the door for Edmonton to strike first.
While the two teams played 4-on-4 after a pair of penalties, Edmonton forced a 3-on-1 break late in the first period. Mattias Ekholm snuck the puck past Bobrovsky on an assist from McDavid with 8:43 left in the period.
After allowing zero goals on 32 shots in Game 1, Bobrovsky put Edmonton’s first shot into the net on Monday night.
Florida ended the first period with a 9-4 lead in shots on goal, but Edmonton led 1-0. McDavid, who was held scoreless in Game 2 alongside the rest of his Oilers teammates, had an assist and two shots on goal in the opening period.
Panthers break through for chaotic first goal
Florida continued to control the puck in the second, eventually breaking through to the scoreboard in a chaotic sequence midway through the period. Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola nearly scored on his own goal when he spun and sent the puck back toward Bobrovsky. Luckily for Florida, Bobrovsky was ready and deflected the puck right along the goal line.
Panthers winger Vladimir Tarasenko grabbed the puck near the backboard and sent it ice-bound to Anton Lundell. Lundell then took the puck past the opponent’s blue line and dropped it back to a waiting Mikkola, who one-timed it past Skinner to get the Panthers on the scoreboard.
The rocket of a goal was just Mikkola’s second in 42 career postseason games.
“He was awake,” Mikkola told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan of Bobrovsky’s save from the would-be own goal. ‘So all is well. …He’s ready for that. Whatever happens, he’s always there for me.’
Florida had a golden opportunity for another goal late in the period on a power play when center Sam Bennett pulled in an Evan Rodrigues pass directly in front of the net. But Bennett sent the puck straight into the leg pads of Skinner, who stopped the point-blank shot.
Oil companies are writing the wrong kind of history
The game entered the third period tied 1-1 as Edmonton found itself on the wrong side of Stanley Cup history. The Oilers managed just seven shots on goal through the first 40 minutes of the game. According to ESPN, this marked the fewest shots in two periods of a Stanley Cup Final since the NHL began recording the statistics in 1960.
Florida put 21 shots on net in the same time frame, but only managed to get one past Skinner. That quickly changed at the start of the third period.
Rodrigue’s flurry secures Panthers victory
With the clock ticking under 5:00, Rodrigues took control of the puck behind the Edmonton net and then launched a shot from the left wing. The shot was blocked right back on his stick and he sent another shot that sailed over Skinner’s right shoulder and into the right side of the net for a 2-1 Florida lead.
Almost ten minutes later, Rodrigues did it again, this time on a power play. He took a pass in transition from Lundell in front of the net and slid it past Skinner’s left shoulder for a 3–1 lead.
The power-play goal was Florida’s first in five tries on Monday night. It gave the Oilers a streak of 34 consecutive penalties this postseason.
A few minutes later, the Oilers went to an empty net. They took Skinner out of the goal with 5:53 to go. Aaron Ekblad took advantage with an empty-net insurance goal with 2:28 remaining to extend the lead to 4-1 and end Edmonton’s hopes of a comeback.
After allowing a goal on the first Edmonton shot of the game, Bobrovsky did not allow another goal. In two Stanley Cup Final games, he now has 50 saves on 51 Oilers shots. McDavid led the Edmonton offense with three shots and an assist, but that wasn’t enough to challenge Florida’s stiff defense.
Florida spread the puck around as nine Panthers made multiple shots on goal. Rodrigues scored on both of his shots, while Ekblad’s empty-netter was his first goal after four shots on net.
The Oilers need to make significant adjustments at both ends of the ice before the series shifts to Game 3 in Edmonton on Thursday night.
