June 7, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers have taken almost three games worth of times to decide two games. Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final was a double overtime thriller that started with a crazy first period. The Panthers got on the board early with a powerplay goal from Sam Bennett, but the lead was short lived. The Oilers evened the game at the 7:39 mark of the opening frame, then took the lead 1:40 later. Seth Jones tied the game at two just 2:18 after that. A minute later, the Oilers responded with a powerplay goal of their own. Add it all up, and the Oilers had a 3-2 lead 12:37 into the game, and that score held to the first intermission.

The Panthers took the lead in the second period thanks to Dmitri Kulikov and a shorthanded goal by Brad Marchand. The Oilers handed the Panthers their first loss when leading after 40 minutes in the Paul Maurice era in Game 1, and they were forced to do the same thing in Game 2 as they trailed 4-3 at the second intermission.

It took the Oilers a while to make it happen, but they tied the game with 18 seconds left. It was the latest game tying goal in a Stanley Cup Final game ever. One overtime period wasn’t enough this time. Brad Marchand got a breakaway and slid it under Stuart Skinner to even the series and get the split in Edmonton.

Callouts

Bennett caused some confusion on the game’s opening goal by kicking Mattias Ekholm’s stick away from him as he was skating up the wall in the Oilers zone. Ekholm’s stick was in Bennett’s path, and rather than stepping over the object that is maybe a half inch tall, Bennett made no effort to step over the stick. He just kept skating, and the stick got in his way. I fully believe that Bennett knew what he was doing on that play. It was a greasy, unsportsmanlike play, but by rule he didn’t “kick” the stick. 

Ekholm was trying to pick up his stick, and the stick kick pulled him out of position. That forced Jake Walman to cover Ekholm’s side of the ice and Connor Brown to rotate low to cover Walman’s spot. Kasperi Kapanen stopped skating for a second after the stick kick, and that made him late to pick up Bennett going to the net. Ekholm didn’t know where to go because both defence positions had been filled and he isn’t comfortable with the forward’s role on th penalty kill. The confusion from the stick kick led to Bennett getting a wide open look from a high danger area, and he buried it.

Kapanen was involved in the 2-2 goal as well. He was pressuring Nate Schmidt up the wall, and Jones was in the neutral zone. Schmidt made a hard left turn at the blue line, and Jones cut to the net from the point. That left Kapanen confused and in the dust. Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane both tried to cover Schmidt as he carried the puck across the zone, which left Eetu Luostarinen and the royal road pass to Jones crashing the net wide open.

The two plays that absolutely can’t happen are the two Marchand breakaway goals. The first was a lost puck battle along the half wall about 10’ inside the offensive blue line by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the powerplay, and that led to Marchand getting sprung for a shorthanded breakaway goal. Marchand slipped right by Evan Bouchard just outside the blue line. Bouchard failed to recognize the danger. He thought he was being more helpful by trying to defend the blue line to keep the puck in on the powerplay, but the situation that required his attention was Marchand getting behind him.

The second was the game winner. Ekholm ripped a shot wide on the far side, and the puck rimmed around the wall. Bouchard was caught between pinching and retreating. He took too long to decide, and it was too late by the time he decided to retreat. The common theme on the two goals was poor decision making by Bouchard at the offensive blue line.

Standouts

Connor McDavid got three assists in Game 2. One of them is likely to make his career top five highlights. He collected the puck above the left circle on the powerplay, and he got moving downhill quickly. McDavid juked out Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov with a dirty little side step, then he beat Aaron Ekblad with a ridiculous toe drag that got him into the heart of the Panthers defensive structure. From there, it was a simple backhand pass to Draisaitl in his office for the one-timer

Shoutouts

Corey Perry continues to produce. This time, he produced a huge moment when he scored the game tying goal with eighteen seconds left. Jake Walman fired the puck towards the net, but the shot got blocked. Perry was tied up with a Panthers defenceman as he cut through the slot area. Perry was able to get his stick down and shoot the rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky. Perry’s eighth goal of the playoffs puts him second on the team behind Draisaitl.

Walman made an excellent play to set up that game tying goal. He also played 28:05, which put him third among Oilers defencemen. That’s higher on the list than he usually is. His poise and decision making with the puck is an asset in this series against the Panthers forecheck.

Bouchard had a tough night with the two mistakes on the Marchand breakaway goals, having the 3-3 goal bounce in off of him, and taking two unnecessary cross-checking penalties; but he also had a big goal and two assists. The Evan Bouchard Experience was on full display in Game 2.

Evander Kane scored another goal as well. It was an absolute snipe of a wrist shot off the rush to tie the game at one in the first period. 

Wrap

On one hand, the Panthers are probably feeling pretty damn good about themselves after earning a split in Edmonton and having a third period lead in both games. On the other hand, the Oilers probably feel that there has been a play in both games that is so rare that it’s unlikely to happen again and that they could easily be up 2-0 in this series. They rarely end up shorthanded after a failed challenge, and sticks don’t get kicked around their defensive zone often.

The reality is that both teams could be up 2-0 if a couple of things had gone differently. Both games have been settled in overtime, and anything can happen in overtime. The games have been tightly contested. It’s the two best teams in the NHL going toe to toe for the second consecutive season. It’s not going to be an easy series for either team.

That needs to be the only game where the Oilers shoot themselves in the foot with bad decisions at the offensive blue line, and that needs to be the only game where the Evan Bouchard Experience is in full force.

The Oilers also have to figure out the second period. The Panthers outscored the Oilers 2-0 in the second period in Game 2, and they outplayed the Oilers in the second period of Game 1.

The teams get the weekend to recover as Game 3 goes Monday in Sunrise.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Oilers win overtime thriller in Game 1 of the SCF