June 14, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

The crowd in Edmonton was lively on Saturday night, but it wasn’t enough to propel the Edmonton Oilers past the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. The team that has scored first has won every game of the series, and Game 5 was no different. Brad Marchand scored ust past the midway point of the first period to put the Panthers ahead 1-0. Sam Bennett scored near the end of the period to put the Panthers up 2-0 at the first intermission. Marchand scored again to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead for the second game in a row. The Oilers scored to make it 3-1, but Sam Reinhart scored to restore the Panthers’ two-goal lead just 46 seconds later. The Panthers added an empty netter for a 5-2 final.

Callouts

The Oilers came out flat on home ice in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. That shouldn’t happen in front of a crowd like that. There’s a problem if the team can’t even get up for that game at home. Give credit to the Panthers for playing a near flawless game, but the Oilers laid an egg.

Marchand had two individual efforts where the Oilers were there but not there. He collected the puck off a centre ice faceoff and walked through Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse to score the 1-0 goal. Later, he received a stretch pass and beat Jake Walman by putting the puck under his stick and beating Calvin Pickard on the backhand to score the 3-0 goal. Marchand is a great hockey player, but he’s not THAT good. There’s no way he should’ve been allowed to score two goals like that at Rogers Place in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. The defending on those plays wasn’t good enough.

Standouts

If I’m being fully honest, nobody really stood out for the Oilers in Game 5. I’m not going to try to force it. I’ll hope multiple players give me something to write in this section in Game 6.

Shoutouts

Corey Perry just keeps producing. He’s up to nine goals in the 2025 playoffs, which is still second on the team. No forward had more than Perry’s four shots on goal either.

Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the Stanley Cup Final. He now has seven points in five games this series, but the Oilers will need more from their captain and the best player in the world if they want to come back in this series.

Troy Stecher was even in 13:38 on the night after being benched in Game 4. The play that led to him being scratched in Game 4 was a little unfortunate, and a high-sticking penalty should’ve been called on that play. This was a decent response game from Stecher though.

Wrap

The Oilers had a chance to make their lives a little bit easier with a win in front of the home crowd on Saturday night, but that’s just not how they do things. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that the Oilers were more likely to come out like they were shot out of a cannon in Game 5 after the way Game 4 ended, but they fell limp instead. That’s not a good enough performance given the circumstances.

Now, the Oilers will face a do or die situation on the road in Game 6 on Tuesday. The players understand the situation. They know what lies on the other side of a poor Game 6 performance. I fully expect that they will bring it in Game 6.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Cardiac Oilers strike again in Game 4 of the SCF