Stanley Cup Final Game 5: Marchand comes up clutch again as Panthers push Oilers to brink

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop exciting action in the NHL as we witness history in another team looking to win a championship. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop of everything that happened in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.

After an exciting comeback from the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4, it looked like they finally had the momentum in this series, and heading back home for Game 5, they might finally have the edge over the Florida Panthers.

But the Panthers continue to be the masters of surprising the hockey world. Once again, they came out flying in the first period and had the Oilers in their grasp the whole way through. Not only did they get two goals in the opening period courtesy of Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett, but they also outshot the Oilers 8-3 and out-chanced them 14-6. Marchand’s goal also cemented him with a distinct legacy, joining Mario Lemieux as the only two players to score five goals in multiple Stanley Cup Finals.

The second period went without a goal, and once again, the Oilers were stifled in the shot and chance department. They never really had a lot to work with in this game, and it felt like it was over even with the game still at 2-0.

Then, Marchand had an impressive drive from center ice through a couple of Oilers, and ended up beating Calvin Pickard again to make it 3-0. Even with 15 minutes left, that seemed like it was all she wrote for this game.

The Oilers did chip away at that lead shortly after with a goal from Connor McDavid, which was shockingly his first of the playoffs. But not even 50 seconds after that Sam Reinhart responded and it remained a three goal deficit. The same thing happened later in the period, as Corey Perry scored with just over three minutes left, and then Eetu Luostarinen capped off the win with an empty net goal two minutes later.

With that the Panthers win the game 5-2, and now head back home to Florida for Game 6 on Tuesday with a 3-2 series lead, and the chance to secure their second straight Stanley Cup with a win.