(Sunrise) The Oilers managed to beat Sergei Bobrovsky this time, but they nevertheless find themselves in a precarious position after two games in the Stanley Cup final.
Evan Rodrigues broke the deadlock early in the third period before adding an insurance goal and the Florida Panthers won 4-1 on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena to move within two wins of their first Stanley Cup title.
The Panthers, who lost in the final to the Vegas Golden Knights last year, lead the series 2-0. Game 3 is Thursday in Edmonton.
Bobrovsky was imperious in the first game, blanking the Oilers in a 3-0 victory. This time, he was less busy and delivered the goods even if he was foiled for the first time in the series.
Mattias Ekholm scored for the Oilers, who generated just 19 shots on goal, including just seven in the first 40 minutes of play. Stuart Skinner stopped 24 shots.
Niko Mikkola and Aaron Ekblad also scored for the Panthers. Anton Lundell had two assists.
Defenseman Cody Ceci was left out of the Oilers camp, in favor of Vincent Desharnais. The latter had watched his team’s last four matches from the stands.
However, defenseman Darnell Nurse appeared to be injured in the first period when he took a hit from Rodrigues. Nurse then made only one appearance on the ice in the second period, then two in the third period.
In the Panthers camp, captain Aleksander Barkov did not play the last 10 minutes of the game after taking a hit from Leon Draisaitl.
The visitors threatened during the first power play of the game, but Connor McDavid and Draisaitl in turn were perhaps a little too generous, opting for a pass while they were in the slot.
Moments later, Oilers forward Warren Foegele received a major penalty and a game misconduct for a knee-on-knee hit against Eetu Luostarinen. However, Panthers defender Oliver Ekman-Larsson was punished moments later and the two teams found themselves four against four.
The Oilers opened the scoring during this sequence, at 11:17. Ekholm orchestrated a two-on-one attack and opted for a shot — the Oilers’ first of the game. He caught Bobrovsky between the pads.
On the next sequence, Brandon Montour hit the crossbar while Skinner was out of position.
Sam Bennett threatened on the penalty kill early in the second period, but missed the target after receiving a pass from Kevin Stenlund.
The Panthers finally tied the game 1-1 after 9:34. Lundell gave the puck back to Mikkola, who beat Skinner on the glove side.
Matthew Tkachuk came close to giving the Panthers the lead a few moments later. He first came up against Skinner, then missed the target by deflecting a delivery from Montour.
The Oilers threatened on a power play later in the middle period. Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, however, reached the metal rods and not the rope at the back of the opposing net.
Skinner then stood out at Bennett’s expense during a Panthers power play.
Rodrigues gave the Panthers the lead 3:11 into the third period. He took advantage of a lost puck on defense and his high shot seemed to graze Oilers forward Ryan McLeod before beating Skinner.
During a punishment against Draisaitl for roughness towards Barkov, Rodrigues returned to the charge for the Panthers. He deftly deflected a Lundell feed past Skinner at 12:25.
McDavid tried to restart the Oilers with just under six minutes remaining, but Bobrovsky frustrated him on a breakaway.
The Oilers replaced Skinner with an extra attacker with more than five minutes left. Despite a long six-on-four streak, they were unable to close the gap. Ekblad then closed the debate by shooting into an empty net with 2:28 left on the clock.