6/6/2025

EDMONTON, ALBERTA

Brad Marchand scored his second goal of the game 8:05 into double overtime to tie the Stanley Cup Final for the Florida Panthers in their Stanley Cup Final rematch with the Edmonton Oilers in a 5-4 win. The series shifts back to Sunrise tied at a game apiece.

Corey Perry tied the game at 19:42 for the Oilers to send the game into overtime. The latest game tying goal in Stanley Cup Final history.

Sam Bennett, Seth Jones, Dmitry Kulikov, and the pair from Brad Marchand accounted for the goals for Florida. Evander Kane, Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl, and Corey Perry scored for Edmonton.

Edmonton was coming off a Game 1 overtime win thanks to the second goal of the night for Leon Draisaitl with a minute left in the period.

It took little time for Edmonton to strike in Game 1, this time it was the Panthers’ turn to jump to an early start in game 2. An early Oiler penalty from Evander Kane allowed the Panthers to go to work. Sam Bennett has turned into public enemy number one wherever he plays. Bennett scored his record setting 12th road goal of the playoffs off a pass from Nate Schmidt at 2:07. Edmonton disputed the goal because Bennett kicked a loose stick from Mattias Ekholm. The goal stood to hand the Cats the early lead.

Viktor Arvidsson is one of the key additions for the Oilers this year. Several minutes after Florida’s goal Arvidsson  finished a check on Florida’s Nate Schmidt. The Edmonton offseason acquisition quickly set up Evander Kane, who barreled left wing and snapped the tying goal at 7:39. For Oilers fans, the emergence of Kane is a welcoming sight after the forward missed the regular season due to an injury. Moments later, Evan Bouchard received a Connor McDavid pass up high. The Oiler defenseman sent a shot through traffic past Panther netminder Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Oilers the lead at 9:19.

The barrage was far from done. Similar to Viktor Arvidsson, Florida acquired defenseman Seth Jones at the trade deadline. Eetu Luostarinen found an unmarked Jones who made no mistake, scoring at 11:37 to tie the game. Jones is one of Florida’s general manager Bill Zito’s finest moves this season. The former Chicago Blackhawk fills in nicely for the Panthers blue line after losing Brandon Montour the previous offseason to Seattle.

Not too long afterward, Sam Bennett took a penalty for goaltender interference to put the Oiler power play to work. It is well documented among many, the best player in the world is Connor McDavid. His teammate Leon Draisaitl is the front runner among many pundits to win the Hart Trophy for league MVP. McDavid claimed a pass from Draisaitl and weaved around Aleksander Barkov and drove by Aaron Ekblad. The three time Hart Trophy winner found an open Leon Draisaitl along the right side who one timed a power play goal at 12:37. Draisaitl’s tally marks his 10th of the postseason, but McDavid’s assist was one to remember. The first period ended with a total of 11 penalties called and five goals tallied. One could only imagine what was next.

Florida responded with their best period of the infancy stages of the Cup Final. Dmitry Kulikov scored a goal that found its way through traffic to tie the game at 8:23. The Panthers went to the penalty kill moments later after a Niko Mikkola hooking penalty. But instead, it was Florida and another trade deadline addition who made an impact. Brad Marchand broke on a breakaway and scored a shorthanded goal at 12:09 to give the Panthers their first lead since the early minutes of the game. For Marchand the goal was his second ever Stanley Cup Final shorthanded goal scored on June 6th. In 2011, Marchand scored a shorthanded goal for the Boston Bruins against the Vancouver Canucks en route to his first Stanley Cup triumph. Florida put together their best period of the Stanley Cup Final to take a 4-3 into the second intermission.

In the third period, the Panthers defensively stood tall. Sergei Bobrovsky was stout throughout the third period. With 2:33 left in the game, the Oilers sent goaltender Stuart Skinner to the bench for the extra attacker. With 17.8 seconds left, Corey Perry tied the game for Edmonton in a net mouth scramble. And for the second straight game, the Stanley Cup Final was headed for overtime. Perry’s goal became the latest game tying goal in Stanley Cup Final history breaking the previous mark set by the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Tod Sloan in 1951.

Florida saw several opportunities in the first overtime period. Sam Reinhart had a breakaway late in the period that he shot wide of the goal. For the first time in the series, neither team scored a goal, yielding to double overtime.

In the second overtime period, Anton Lundell sent Brad Marchand on another breakaway. Marchand went to the backhand on Stuart Skinner, for the overtime winner. The goal coming at 8:05 bodes as a testament of how well trade deadline moves have panned out for Florida this year. Three of the five goals were scored by trade deadline acquisitions for the Panthers; the two from Marchand and the other from Seth Jones.

Marchand postgame said, “these are memories you have for the rest of your life.” Marchand becomes the first player in Stanley Cup Final history to score a shorthanded goal and the overtime winner in the same game.

There are plenty of ways teams can reconcile with losing a game in the Stanley Cup Final. Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch remarked postgame to the media, “When you win the first one you’re disappointed you don’t follow up and win the second one, but we’re going there with a split. We’re comfortable playing on the road.”

The Panthers manage to force that split after the first two games in Edmonton. The series shifts down south to Florida for games three and four.

Game 3 is scheduled for 5 p.m. from Sunrise, Florida with the game broadcasted on TNT.

Stay tuned to ESN for continued updates on the 2025 Stanley Cup Final.

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