June 9, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

According to Sportsnet Stats, Game 3 between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers had the fourth highest combined total of penalty minutes (140) in a Stanley Cup Final game. The first period was filled with eight penalties, most of which were sloppy ones by both teams. The third period got out of hand though. 80 of the 140 penalty minutes that were handed out came as the result of a line brawl at 10:29 of the third period. Trent Frederic broke his stick on Sam Bennett’s back on his third cross-check in short succession, and chaos ensued from there. It felt like there was an altercation after every whistle after that brawl.

That’s what happens when a Stanley Cup Final game gets as lopsided as Game 3 did. The Panthers took a 2-0 lead to the first intermission. The Oilers scored a powerplay goal to make it 2-1 1:40 into the second period, but the Panthers responded with two more goals before the period was eight minutes old. The Panthers scored a powerplay goal early in the third period to make it 5-1, and everything from there on out was garbage time. Evan Rodrgues added another powerplay goal to give the Panthers a 6-1 win.

Callouts

The Panthers had eleven powerplays in Game 3. ELEVEN. Four of those powerplays came in garbage time in the second half of the third period. That doesn’t explain the other seven. I didn’t love the Viktor Arvidsson goaltender interference call because it looked like Sergei Bobrovsky moved into the contact as Arvidsson was trying to stop, but I understand the call being made. They earned the other three they took in the first period fair and square though. Evander Kane took three penalties. I didn’t have a problem with the one he took late in the game that ultimately got him kicked out, but the two that he took in the first period were sloppy and unnecessary.

The Oilers have allowed at least one powerplay goal in each of their last five games. The penalty kill isn’t playing well enough to be going shorthanded eleven times in a game!

Vasily Podkolzin had a tough shift leading up to Sam Bennett’s 4-1 goal. Podkolzin cut to the middle shortly after crossing the Panthers blue line, and Bennett lit him up with a huge hit. Podkolzin ended up getting up and getting the puck back high in the zone, but he gave the puck away. Bennett got a breakaway and scored. The Oilers are vulnerable to turnovers just inside the offensive blue line, and the Panthers have taken advantage of that in the last two games.

The team as a whole clearly forgot how to beat the Panthers forecheck. The Oilers kept trying to force the puck through Panthers players along the wall on the strong side, and it didn’t work. Whenever they tried to reverse the puck, they didn’t do it quickly enough. The Panthers made it extremely difficult for the Oilers to exit their own zone with control of the puck, and the Oilers played right into their hands.

Standouts

Corey Perry scored his ninth goal of the playoffs, which ties him for the team lead with Leon Draisaitl. It was the lone bright spot for the Oilers in Game 3.

Shoutouts

Adam Henrique had a good night in the faceoff circle (61%). The shots were 7-2 for the Oilers with Henrique on the ice at five-on-five, and his expected goals percentage was 77.19%. His line with Connor Brown and Trent Frederic were not on the ice for any goals against.

Wrap

We can’t say that the Oilers didn’t match the Panthers’ physicality. The hits were 34-26 in favour of the Oilers.

They also responded to the Panthers’ gamesmanship. Jake Walman squirted water at the Panthers’ bench after AJ Greer ripped Walman’s glove off and threw it into the bench. Frederic broke his stick on Bennett’s back. Evan Bouchard slashed multiple Panthers at different times during the game. Kasperi Kapanen leveled Eetu Luostarinen after he exchanged slashes with Bouchard (then got beer poured on him by a Panthers fan apparently).

The Oilers clearly lost their composure at the end of Game 3, but I didn’t hate seeing the push back from the Oilers once the game got out of hand. After the game, Connor McDavid said that sometimes you need to “fight your way out of the arena”. Bennett has fallen onto Stuart Skinner twice in the series, and I’ve seen slew foots on McDavid and Evan Bouchard by Niko Mikkola and Brad Marchand in Games 1 and 2 respectively. If there’s a time to send a message, it’s when the game is out of hand as Game 3 was. 

McDavid also said that “I don’t think our best has shown up all series long, but it’s coming”. They are certainly going to need their best or something close to it to win a pivotal Game 4 on Thursday.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Panthers earn the split in Edmonton with Game 2 double overtime win