EDMONTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Florida’s Brad Marchand scored twice for the Panthers, who moved a win away from repeating as Stanley Cup champions with a 5-2 win in Game 5 against the host Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
Eetu Luostarinen had a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for the Panthers, who can clinch the trophy at home in Florida on Tuesday night.
Connor McDavid and Corey Perry scored for the Oilers. Calvin Pickard made 14 saves.
Marchand gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 9:12 of the first period. He got to a loose puck off a center-ice face-off, went around Mattias Ekholm inside the Edmonton zone and skated to the left hash mark before roofing a snapshot.
Bennett made it 2-0 at 18:06 when he collected the rebound of a Matthew Tkachuk shot that was blocked and fired it quickly past Pickard.
The Oilers had their chances to cut the deficit in the second period with a pair of power plays early in the frame but couldn’t convert.
Marchand extended it to 3-0 at 5:12 of the third period. The veteran retrieved a pass from Luostarinen in the neutral zone, carried it inside the Oilers’ zone, and jumped around defenseman Jake Walman above the left circle before sliding it five-hole on Pickard.
McDavid’s first of the series cut it to 3-1 at 7:24. He took a feed from Evan Bouchard in the left circle and brought it down to the crease, slipping it by Bobrovsky’s right skate to bring life to the crowd.
But Reinhart quieted the crowd when he responded for Florida 46 seconds later. Aleksander Barkov collected the puck behind the net and sent a backhand feed to Reinhart, who snapped it from the left circle through two Edmonton defensemen and past Pickard to make it 4-1 at 8:10.
With Pickard pulled for the extra attacker, Perry narrowed it to 4-2 when he fired a blast from the blue line through traffic at 16:47.
Luostarinen scored an empty-net goal at 18:41 for the 5-2 final.
–Field Level Media