2024 Stanley Cup Final: 5 Takeaways from Panthers-Oilers Game 2

And now, it’s time for travel.

The Florida Panthers comprehensively protected home ice through the first part of the Stanley Cup Final with the Edmonton Oilers, taking Game 2 by a 4-1 margin on Monday night and seizing a two-game advantage as the series shifts to northern Alberta.

The teams will play twice at Edmonton’s Rogers Place on Thursday and Saturday before returning to Amerant Bank Arena, if necessary, for Game 5 next week.

Florida is now halfway to the first championship in franchise history, and its ebullient fans were ready with the requisite “We want the Cup” chant as Monday’s game wound down.

The B/R hockey team was in the building to take it all in and deliver a list of crucial takeaways. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the comments.

The Oilers and Panthers are loaded with world-class goal-scorers.

But Game 2 of the series featured tallies by players only the most optimistic types would have chosen to their pregame fantasy lineups.

Edmonton defenseman Mattias Ekholm got things started in the first period with a four-on-four goal that saw him take possession in his own zone and carry down the left wing before beating Sergei Bobrovsky through the five-hole for the Oilers’ first goal of the series after 71-plus minutes.

It was Ekholm’s fifth goal in 20 playoff games.

Florida pulled even when another defenseman, Niko Mikkola, took a pass from Anton Lundell and beat Stuart Skinner over the left pad for just his second of the postseason at 9:34 of the second period, and the Panthers added another infrequent name to the scoresheet when Evan Rodrigues converted an Evan Bouchard turnover into a 2-1 lead at 3:11 of the third.

It was Rodrigues’ fifth of the playoffs but already his second of the series and he added yet another at 12:26 when he redirected a pass from Lundell past Skinner to make it 3-1.

Yet another defenseman, Florida’s Aaron Ekblad provided the final margin with an empty-netter for his first of the playoffs with 2:28 remaining.

So, as we just said, the rosters are loaded with stars.

Particularly Edmonton’s, which entered Game 2 with the top three point-getters—Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard—in the playoffs and another player (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) who arrived tied for fourth.

Well, let’s just say they’re not doing much to add to their lead.

Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky held the high-octane quartet in check yet again in Game 2, stopping 18 shots and allowing just one goal—a four-on-four wrister from Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm that leaked through his legs in the first period.

He’s now stopped 50 of 51 shots overall through two games, including nine from McDavid, who did manage an assist on Ekholm’s goal but little else in nearly 26 minutes of ice time.

His absence from the scoreboard is trumped by teammate Draisaitl, who has 10 goals in 20 playoff games but just one in his last six. He’s put up a goose egg on six shots through two games against the Panthers and it’s a particularly painful stat for Edmonton, which has lost 12 straight games in which the burly German has failed to record a point.

“We can certainly be better,” Draisaitl said. “It starts with me.”

It’s the first time Edmonton has scored just once in a two-game stretch since February 2022.

“I’m looking forward to people doubting us again,” McDavid said.

The third period, it can logically be argued, is where championships are won.

So it’s probably no surprise that the Panthers—who’ve lost just five of 19 games in this postseason—have been particularly dominant in those crucial 20 minutes.

Florida led 2-0 and added a third-period insurance goal in its Game 1 win on Saturday, then upped the ante on Monday with three goals in the final period that turned a 1-1 contest into the series-seizing 4-1 victory.

The Panthers had a 22-7 advantage in shots on goal through 40 minutes before, ironically, coming out on the short end of a 7-6 margin in that stat in the final period. It was a moot point, however, given that the home team got two of five shots past Stuart Skinner and added another insurance tally on Aaron Ekblad’s empty-net goal.

Florida has outscored its foes 28-11 in the third period since the playoffs began and it’s up 7-1 on the Oilers overall through two games—scoring once in the first period, twice in the second, and four times in the third.

It was also the Panthers’ seventh comeback win of the tournament out of 14 total victories.

Given their 2-0 series lead and competitive advantages in every meaningful statistic, the Panthers are flush with positive storylines as the matchup shifts to Edmonton.

But there’s one bit of news that might not be so pleasant for Florida faithful.

Shutdown center and Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov did not return to the ice after taking an elbow from Leon Draisaitl late in the third period of Monday’s game, an infraction that sent the Oilers forward to the box for two minutes and could conceivably prompt talk of a suspension because he left his feet while delivering the blow.

The penalty was called only after the officials gathered to discuss the play.

“It was a little bit of a sneaky elbow,” Sportsnet’s Luke Gadzic said. “Luckily, for the game, the officials got that call right because they weren’t gonna call something right away.”

It may have longer, more significant consequences for the two-way Finn, however, who seems likely to at least enter the league’s concussion protocol.

Barkov has logged nearly 39 minutes of ice time through the first two games, much of it while shadowing McDavid, who’s been held to a single assist while Barkov accounted for a pair in Saturday’s opener.

It, for all logical intents and purposes, was a game-changing moment.

The Panthers had controlled play to the tune of a 6-0 edge in shots on goal and were about to have a five-minute power play thanks to a kneeing major and accompanying game misconduct assessed to Edmonton forward Warren Foegele for a hit on Eetu Loustarinen.

But the needle didn’t tip in the direction you might have expected.

Instead of adding to its lead, Florida soon found itself playing four-on-four hockey when defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was sent off for tripping, and it was the Oilers who reached the scoreboard first when blue-liner Mattias Ekholm’s wrister sneaked through Sergei Bobrovsky’s legs at 11:17 of the first period.

Edmonton held on to a 4-3 edge in shots for the balance of the period and reached the intermission with a 1-0 lead while playing without both Foegele and defenseman Darnell Nurse, who left the game with an apparent lower-body injury after just 2:46 of ice time and missed the entire second period before returning to the bench for the third.

Foegele played just 1:54 before his exit.