Cote: Panthers crush Edmonton, 6-1, for 2-1 Final lead to leave Oilers fighting mad | Opinion
OK, yes, I am officially a prisoner of the moment. Guilty. I have seldom been happier to be in sports jail.
We are right in the midsection of this, and I’ll say it now:
Greatest Stanley Cup Final ever? Feels like it could be.
Feels like this, too:
Connor McDavid has to sense his latest shot at an elusive first Stanley Cup trophy might be slipping away from him. Again.
How could he not? After a Game 1 Edmonton win he saw his Oilers fall in double overtime to knot the series — and then came Florida’s decisive 6-1 home victory in Game 3 Monday night.
“We played like a veteran team that’s been here,” said Matthew Tkachuk afterward.
Six different Cats scored goals. Sergei Bobrovsky was excellent per usual, stopping 32 of 33 shots.
He was Zen Bob as always afterward, deflecting praise as deftly as he does pucks.
“Trying to build a moment and stay in the moment,” he described his game.
Edmonton obviously gave up the night by inciting fisticuffs with 9:31 to play, started by targeting Sam Bennett and involving most players on the ice. [Featured match: Cat Jonah Gadjovich vs. Oiler Darnell Nurse. Unanimous decision: Gadjovich. Goodnight, Nurse.] The third period turned dirty, with so many players sent off they were close to seeking volunteers from the crowd. Evander Kane and Kasperi Kapanen were especially dirty Oilers.
“I don’t know what led to it,” said Carter Verhaeghe of Edmonton’s sudden overt thuggery. “Maybe the score of the game?”
The whole night was wrought with penalties, with a combined 17 power plays given, 11 of them awarded to Florida.
It smelled like anger and frustration by Edmonton. It smelled like desperation.
“If you gotta take a punch in the face, you do that,” said Tkachuk. “We stood up for each other.”
Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch admitted of his team, “In the third period there was an unraveling. I don’t think we’d have played like that if it was a one-goal game. Way too many penalties. I don’t think we really found our footing after that third [Panthers] score. It was very difficult to get to our game after that. They played a heck of a game, and we’re going to have to raise ours.”
Still, does anyone doubt this Final could still go to Game 7, just as Panthers-Oilers 1.0 did last year? Even after a whipping like Monday? No. Recall that Edmonton beat Florida 8-1 in last year’s Final but lost the Cup. Yet nobody should doubt the Panthers have seized the upper hand in this series with a Game 3 triumph that issued a simple yet forceful statement to the Oilers:
We are the champions.
Hockey fans disinterested in this Final (as TV ratings suggest) because it’s a rematch series are, to use the technical term for it ... insane. [Trying to be polite here.]
What do you people want from your sport? You have the two best teams in the NHL — clearly. You have the reigning champion Panthers in a third straight Final and skating for a second straight Stanley Cup triumph to kindle dynasty talk. You have Edmonton after its first crown since 1990 — and hockey-inventing Canada’s first since ’93 — as the all-time great McDavid tries to get the ice-monkey off his back by finally winning his first Cup.
[Some Miami writer keeps referring to McDavid as “McOverrated” for what his otherwise-gilded resume’ glaringly continues missing. I forget who that writer is...]
I’ll buy that McDavid is the best player in this series.
I’ll abide little argument the Panthers are the best team.
Two overtime games to begin the series gave way to a breather Monday, a regulation game not especially close.
Still, what has been a great Final portends more of that.
“It’s been fast. Lots of action at both ends,” said Cats coach Paul Maurice of the championship series. “The quality and depth of the talent level has been outstanding. A 4-3 game, a 5-4 game and both teams are playing well defensively — that’s how good both teams’ offense is.”
Maurice on Monday became only the third coach in NHL history with 1,000 combined regular season and postseason victories. He wasn’t celebrating. Maybe two more wins will do it?
Th easy narrative entering this game was Florida’s struggles at home relative to their road success in this postseason. It’s been 9-3 away for Florida with an NHL road-record 56 goal scored vs. 29 conceded, vs. a 4-3 mark at home entering Monday with goals 18-18.
Well, let’s retire that narrative — or at least table it pending Game 4 back in Sunrise Thursday night before the Final swings back northwest to Edmonton.
[Quick question: As the Panthers honor retired servicemen at each home game , how is it possible a 100-year-old World War II veteran looks younger than me? Maurice feels the same: “Still sour about that,” he joked Monday night. “101 and they all look better than I do.”]
Edmonton has had seven come-from-behind wins this postseason. There would not be be an eighth in Game 3.
Florida led 1-0 on a dream goal -- first minute, 56 seconds in ... Brad Marchand, of course.
Heretic to hero, Marchand, the former hated Boston Bruin, followed his Game 2-winning double-overtime score -- the Marchand Miracle — with a wrist shot from Anton Lundell service to sound the horn as the province of Alberta sagged 2,500 miles away.
“Getting one at home early was very important to us,” said Maurice.
Cats were up 2-0 just 2:55 before the end of the first period on a power-play goal by Verhaeghe on a snap shot that Evan Rodrigues’ pass set up. Florida had converted only 4 percent of its power-play chances this postseason — an awful number — prior to this welcome one.
“We knew as soon as the playoffs came [Verhaeghe] was gonna elevate his game,” said Sam Reinhart.
The wild first saw seven power plays (4-3, favor of Florida), with Verhaeghe’s the only one cashed, but the first of three PP scores on the night for the Cats
Edmonton drew within 2-1 early in the second on a goal by 40-year-old Corey Perry, who had scored in Game 2 with 17.8 seconds left in regulation to force extra time.
But the Cats were just getting started.
Reinhart scored three minutes into the second off a pass from Verhaeghe as the scoreboard lit at 3-1.
“Sam Reinhart’s goal is the inflection point in the game,” stated Maurice.
Mid-second, Bennett netted his league-leading 14th goal of the playoffs (only his second at home) on a 1-on-1 breakaway that left Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner praying without an answer. An Edmonton turnover began the sequence that saw Eetu Luostarinen generously slide the puck to Bennett for the big finish and a comfy 4-1 lead.
“He’s built for this time of year,” said Marchand, of Bennett. “He’s not afraid to go to the dirty areas [in front of the net].”
It was 5-1 early in the third on Cats veteran Aaron Ekblad’s goal with help from Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk.
Rodrigues capped the scoring with 3:50 left.
It was Ekblad who after Sunday’s practice found a rather interesting way to praise McDavid.
“Walks on water, right?” said Ekblad, presumably meaning the frozen kind. “McJesus.”
Edmonton needs McDavid to be that such deity-on-blades the rest of this series.
Question is, will the reigning champions allow it?
Panthers fans greedy for a repeat were chanting, ”We want the Cup!” toward the end.
It did not seem an unreasonable request.
This story was originally published June 9, 2025 at 11:09 PM.
