TAKEAWAYS: Florida Panthers 6, Edmonton Oilers 5
The Florida Panthers took down the Edmonton Oilers in a rollercoaster of a Stanley Cup Final rematch.
The Florida Panthers gutted out a 6-5 win over the Edmonton Oilers without captain Aleksander Barkov in the lineup in a rollercoaster of a Stanley Cup Final rematch.
Florida saw a 2-1 first-period lead quickly vanish when Edmonton scored three goals in the first nine minutes of the second period — all coming within a three-minute span — and things looked dire.
The Panthers gave up chances off the rush, which was a severe problem in their past two games, and Sergei Bobrovsky had already let in a couple of weak blocker-side goals, which had been an issue that has been plaguing him for some time this season. That two-goal lead quickly turned into a two-goal deficit.
They got their break with 2:55 to go in the second period when a Gustav Forsling shot bounced off the crossbar, off an Oilers defenseman’s back and in the net over the shoulder of Stuart Skinner to bring them back within a goal.
Niko Mikkola tied the game up 6:53 into the third period, firing home a wrist shot off a feed from Anton Lundell while a majority of the Oilers defense was distracted in the neutral zone by a big hit from Jonah Gadjovich.
Sam Reinhart gave the Panthers the lead 30 seconds later, but it did not even last a minute. Kasperi Kapanen stuffed in a puck that took a funky bounce near the front of the net 39 seconds later to re-tie the game.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winning goal with 6:55 to go, firing off a snap shot all alone in the slot off of a feed from Sam Bennett.
With the win, the Panthers snapped a two-game losing streak and are now tied in points for the Atlantic Division lead with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Florida will conclude its five-game road trip in a nationally-televised tilt with the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday,
Here are three takeaways from Monday night’s game:
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