The Florida Panthers did what they needed after nearly letting it slip away.
Brad Marchand scored in double overtime, his second breakaway goal of the game, to give the Panthers a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final.
The series is now tied 1-1 as it shifts to Sunrise, Fla., for Game 3 on Monday.
The Panthers were headed for victory much earlier in the night, but Corey Perry scored with 18 seconds left in the third period to send the game to overtime.
The Panthers had the better of the chances in that first extra period; they were repeatedly frustrated by Stuart Skinner.
Skinner denied Marchand’s backhand shot with the pad after a turnover created by Carter Verhaeghe behind Edmonton’s net. Marchand then sent his own rebound off the post.
Later the Oilers goalie stopped Florida’s Sam Reinhart, with the puck then bouncing off Seth Jones right back to Skinner, who held on tight.
Reinhart had a golden opportunity to win it with 4:30 left in OT on a breakaway with miles of space and all the time in the world, but he shot well wide.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final, which is a rematch of last year, also went to overtime, with Leon Draisaitl scoring the winner in that one.
How we got there
A wild first period saw the Oilers and Panthers scoring a combined five goals in less than 13 minutes to start the game.
Florida did not hold a full team skate Thursday or Friday morning with the goal of keeping players fresh for puck drop.
They definitely looked energized when Sam Bennett put the Panthers in front early, a power-play goal 2:07 into the contest with Evander Kane in the box for high sticking. It was Bennett’s NHL record-setting 12th road goal of the post-season.
That early goal wasn’t without controversy, as it appeared Bennett was purposely kicking Mattias Ekholm’s stick, preventing the Oilers player from picking it up just seconds before the goal. Ekholm still didn’t have his stick when the puck found the back of the net.
Edmonton replied with two quick goals through Kane at 7:39, making up for the early penalty, and Bouchard at 9:19.
Kane’s perfect shot on the rush beat Sergei Bobrovsky off the post and in to tie the game at 1-1, then Bouchard fired a puck past Bobrovsky on his second attempt after his first one was blocked by Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov.
Jones was quick to respond for the visitors, firing a cross-ice pass from Eetu Luostarinen past Skinner to make it 2-2.
Draisaitl put the Oilers in front 3-2, on the power play, at 12:37 of the opening frame after Bennett was called for goaltender interference on Skinner. That penalty drew the ire of Oilers fans — and gave them a little scare — when Bennett fell on Skinner’s right leg, with the Edmonton goalie slow to get to his feet.
Bennett argued he was pushed into the goaltender by Ekholm, but Oilers fans would have felt the Panthers player fell to the ice a little too easier.
That was Edmonton’s last goal until Perry’s equalizer in the dying seconds of the third period.
Florida scored twice in the second frame. Dmitry Kulikov levelled the score 3-3 at 8:23 when his shot from the point into heavy traffic in front of Skinner’s net went off Bouchard’s hip, then off the post and in.
Marchand then put the Cats in front 4-3 with a short-handed breakaway goal at 12:09.
