Stanley Cup Final: Panthers stifle Oilers to take 2-0 series lead on big night by Evan Rodrigues

If Game 1 was about Sergei Bobrovsky, Game 2 belonged to Florida‘s entire defense.

The Panthers stifled Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers Monday night to secure a 4-1 win in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. Evan Rodrigues scored two goals, while Florida secured a 29-19 advantage in shots on goal. The Panthers now hold a commanding 2-0 lead with the series scheduled to shift to Edmonton for Game 3.

Oilers strike first despite stagnant offense

Florida set the tone early, tallying six shots on goal before Edmonton posted its first. But it didn’t pay off on the scoreboard as Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped each offering, opening the door for Edmonton to strike first.

With the two sides playing 4-on-4 after a pair of penalties, Edmonton secured a 3-on-1 break late in the first period. Mattias Ekholm snuck the puck past Bobrovsky on an assist by McDavid with 8:43 remaining in the period.

After allowing zero goals on 32 shots in Game 1, Bobrovsky let Edmonton’s first shot Monday night into the net.

Florida finished the first period with a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal, but Edmonton led, 1-0 on the scoreboard. McDavid, who was held scoreless in Game 2 alongside the rest of his Oilers teammates, tallied 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 and finally broke through to the scoreboard on a chaotic sequence midway through the period. Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola almost scored on his own goal when he spun and sent the puck back toward Bobrovsky. Fortunately for Florida, Bobrovsky was ready for it and deflected the puck to his right down the goal line.

Panthers winger Vladimir Tarasenko corralled the puck by the board and sent it up ice to Anton Lundell. Lundell then took the puck past the opposing 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 of the potential own goal. “So all good. … He’s ready for those. Everything that happens, he’s always there for me.”

Florida faced a golden chance for another goal on a power play late in the period when center Sam Bennett corralled a pass from Evan Rodrigues directly in front of the net. But Bennett sent the puck directly into the leg pads of Skinner, who stopped the point-blank shot.

Oilers make wrong kind of history

The game went to the third period tied 1-1 as Edmonton found itself on the wrong side of Stanley Cup history. The Oilers tallied just seven shots on goal through the game’s first 40 minutes. Per ESPN, that marked the fewest shots through two periods of a Stanley Cup Final game since NHL started recording the stat in 1960.

Florida put 21 shots on the net in the same time frame, but managed to get just one past Skinner. That changed quickly at the onset of the third period.

Rodrigues flurry secures Panthers win

As the clock ticked below 17:00, Rodrigues took control of the puck behind the Edmonton net, then launched a shot from the left wing. The shot was blocked right back on his stick, and he sent another that sailed over Skinner’s right shoulder into the right side of the net for a 2-1 Florida lead.

Nearly 10 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 wristed it past Skinner’s left shoulder for a 3-1 lead.

The power-play goal was the first for Florida in five attempts Monday night. It snapped a streak of 34 straight penalty kills by the Oilers this postseason.

Minutes later, the Oilers went to an empty net. They pulled Skinner from goal with 5:53 remaining. Aaron Ekblad took advantage with an empty-net insurance goal with 2:28 left to increase the lead to 4-1 and end any long-shot hopes of an Edmonton comeback.

After allowing a goal on the first Edmonton shot of the game, Bobrovsky didn’t allow another. 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 it wasn’t enough to challenge a stiff Florida defense.

Florida spread the puck around as nine Panthers recorded multiple shots on goal. Rodrigues scored on both of his, while Ekblad’s empty netter was his first goal on four shots on net.

The Oilers have significant adjustments to make on both sides of the ice before the series shifts to Game 3 Thursday night in Edmonton.