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Stanley Cup Final: Panthers win Game 2 on Marchand’s goal in 2nd OT

June 7, 2025

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer

EDMONTON, Alberta — After allowing the latest tying goal in Stanley Cup Final history, the Florida Panthers kept the chatter going at intermission before overtime. Some guys exchanged predictions on who was going to score the winner.

It turned out to be Brad Marchand in double overtime to give the defending champions a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 on Friday night to even the best-of-seven series.

“To be honest, I blacked out,” Marchand said. “I don’t even know where it went. It was a fortuitous bounce. We’ll take it.”

Marchand’s second goal of the night 8:04 into the second OT allowed Florida to escape with a split after Corey Perry tied it with 17.8 seconds left in the third period and Stuart Skinner pulled for an extra attacker. Each of the first two games in this series have gone to overtime, the first time that has happened in the Final since 2014 and just the sixth time in NHL history.

“Obviously a long game,” said defenseman Seth Jones, who led the Panthers in ice time at 34:15. “We came here for a split and got it and just going to recover now.”

Much like last year and the playoff run to this point, Sergei Bobrovsky was dialed in when he was needed the most, making some unreal saves while stopping 42 of the 46 shots he faced – including 14 in the overtimes.

“He gives us a chance every night,” winger Evan Rodrigues said. “That’s all you can ask for. Some big saves, key saves at key moments, and we’re not taking him for granted, that’s for sure.”

His teammates provided the necessary goal support.

Along with Marchand, Sam Bennett scored his postseason-leading 13th goal and NHL-record 12th on the road. Jones scored into a wide-open net after some spectacular tic-tac-toe passing, and fellow defenseman Dmitry Kulikov tied it with a shot through traffic that Skinner almost certainly did not see.

Kulikov’s goal came after Florida controlled play for several minutes in the second, hemming Edmonton in its zone shift after shift and piling up a 34-13 advantage in shot attempts during the period. Marchand’s OT goal was his 10th career goal in the final to lead all active players.

Game 3 is Monday night as the teams traverse the continent and play shifts to Sunrise.

“Each game could’ve went either way,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Obviously when you win the first one, you’re disappointed not to win the second.”

The Panthers wrested home-ice advantage away from the Oilers by splitting the first two, rebounding from a Game 1 overtime loss and asserting they won’t go quietly against Draisaitl and Connor McDavid looking like they’ll do everything in their power to hoist the Cup for the first time.

Of course, those stars had their moments. They assisted on Evan Bouchard’s goal when Coach Kris Knoblauch put them on the ice together, and McDavid stickhandled through multiple defenders in highlight-reel fashion to set up Draisaitl scoring on the power play.

There were a lot of those – 10 in total – after officials whistled 14 penalties, including three in the first four minutes. Each team had a few calls it was not happy with, though most of that evened out over the course of the game.

NOSEK GETS SUPPORT FROM PEERS

Tomas Nosek had been dealing with the guilt of his puck-over-the-glass penalty ever since the Panthers lost the series opener on the ensuing power-play goal by Leon Draisaitl.

He’s not sure how long it took to get over it.

“It was tough,” Nosek said Friday after an optional morning skate before Game 2. “You don’t want to be the one guy who costs us the game. But obviously everybody can make a mistake. It happened in a bad time in overtime, and it cost us the game. But it’s in the past, and now we’re looking forward to just keep doing my job.”

Nosek gets to keep doing his job. Coach Paul Maurice didn’t make any lineup changes for Game 2. A.J. Greer remains out with an undisclosed injury, though Maurice said the fourth-liner is on track for Game 3.

The penalty 18 minutes into overtime came when Edmonton’s Jake Walman was pressuring Nosek in Florida’s defensive zone. Power plays are rare in OT in the playoffs with officials careful about not wanting to have too big an influence on the outcome, but sending the puck over the glass is an automatic call.

“Everybody’s making mistakes,” Nosek said. “I think it’s a part of the game. It’s a sport, and you just focus on the next game and preparing yourself for it like every other game.”

Nosek, one of several newcomers who weren’t around last year when the Panthers won the Cup, is in his second final after helping Vegas get there in 2018. He said teammates have been good about encouraging and supporting him since the costly penalty.

“They’ve been really helpful,” Nosek said. “The guys came to me and said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ It’s good.”

Linemate Jonah Gadjovich, who reported feeling great after missing some time in Game 1 because of injury, said Nosek shouldn’t feel bad about the mistake.

“It happens,” Gadjovich said. “Tough bounce, but he does so many good things for us, no one’s mad at him, no one’s anything. It’s just stuff like that happens in a game.”

COY McDAVID

Connor McDavid made a pass befitting his status as the best hockey player on the planet to set up the Oilers’ tying goal in Game 1, with Mattias Ekholm scoring it. Asked Friday whether the pass from behind the net was intended for Ekholm or winger Evander Kane, he was unwilling to share that information.

“I won’t say,” McDavid responded. “All that matters is it ended up where it needed to be, and we scored.”

McDavid also assisted on Draisaitl’s overtime goal, his playoff-leading 28th point in 17 games during this run.

COACHING CAROUSEL

Florida coach Paul Maurice said earlier this week he roots for three teams when he’s watching games around the NHL: Vancouver for Jim Rutherford, Winnipeg because he was there for so long and loves the organization and the market, and Dallas for close friend Peter DeBoer.

The Stars are probably off that list now after firing DeBoer on Friday following a third consecutive loss in the Western Conference final and comments made about the decision to pull franchise goaltender Jake Oettinger in the decisive Game 5 loss.

“He’ll be all right,” Maurice said. “He’s a good coach. I think you get elite teams, you’ve got to push them real hard to get to where they get to, and then at some point you need a summer off, pick your spot. He’s going to be OK.”

DeBoer’s dismissal opens a job a day after Boston hired Marco Sturm to fill its vacancy, the last one left in the league. On Wednesday, Pittsburgh went with a little bit of a surprise hiring longtime assistant Dan Muse.

Ekholm, who played in Nashville when Muse was on staff there, is interested to see how it goes for a “super serious guy” with a new school approach.

“I think he’s got all the right tools to be a successful coach,” Ekholm said. “It’s different to be an assistant than a head coach, so he’s got some things to prove but good for him to get an opportunity.”

Orange County Register

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Stanley Cup Final: Panthers win Game 2 on Marchand’s goal in 2nd OT

NOSEK GETS SUPPORT FROM PEERS

COY McDAVID

COACHING CAROUSEL

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