Miami (AFP) – Evan Rodrigues scored twice as the Florida Panthers came from behind to beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven NHL Stanley Cup Final on Monday.
Edmonton, aiming to become the first Canadian team to lift ice hockey’s most prestigious title since 1993, made a dream start after Mattias Ekholm fired them into the lead in the first period.
But Florida’s relentless offensive pressure eventually brought its own reward as the Oilers’ resistance was broken in the second and third periods.
The game got off to an explosive start with Edmonton’s Warren Foegele ejected in the first period for a brutal knee-on-knee hit on the Panthers’ Eetu Luostarinen that left the Finn sprawled on the ice.
Luostarinen was helped off the rink, limping heavily on his left leg before returning to the game later in the period.
Florida failed to capitalise on the five-minute power play awarded to them after Foegele’s foul, and instead surrendered a chunk of the advantage when defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was whistled for tripping.
That left it four-on-four for two minutes and it was Edmonton who took advantage with what was their first shot on goal of the game.
Ekholm raced forward after an assist from Connor McDavid and beat Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with a wrist shot.
The Panthers, dominant in a 3-0 victory in game one on Saturday, responded superbly to the setback and drew level midway through the second period after a bizarre passage of play that saw Niko Mikkola come within a whisker of scoring an own goal moments before his leveler.
The Finnish defenseman nearly backpassed into his own net and had Bobrovsky to thank for deflecting the puck away.
Florida then launched a lightning counter-attack which culminated with Anton Lundell deftly teeing up a snap shot for Mikkola who blasted his effort into the net past Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner with 10:26 remaining in the period.
With Florida carving out chance after chance it seemed only a matter of time before the Oilers defense was breached again.
Florida’s second goal duly arrived early in the third period, with Rodrigues bagging his fifth goal of the postseason with a snap shot with 16:49 remaining.
Edmonton frustration boiled over when Leon Draisaitl was sent to the sin-bin for roughing Aleksander Barkov midway through the final period.
Florida rammed home their advantage from the ensuing power play, with Lundell once again providing the assist as Rodrigues deflected in his second goal of the night to make it 3-1.
Aaron Ekblad then put the result beyond doubt in the final minutes after shooting into an empty net to put Florida 4-1 up.
The Oilers are trying to become the first Canadian team to capture the trophy since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
Six Canadian clubs have lost in the final since then.
The Panthers are in the championship series for a second straight year after falling in five games last season to Vegas.
© 2024 AFP
