Panthers Destroy Oilers In Game 3

It was deja vu all over again for the defending Stanley Cup champions Florida Panthers.

Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett scored for the third game in a row and Carter Verhaege and Sam Reinhart got their first goals of the Final as the Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-1 Monday night in Sunrise.

Edmonton was extremely aggressive away from the puck and had 85 penalty minutes over the three periods. The Panthers, by contrast, had 55 penalty minutes. Edmonton was letting their frustration show in the third period as they created many power plays for the Panthers with their aggressive play.

The Oilers took 15 minor penalties, led by Evander Kane, who had three by himself. There was a fight which caused the game to be delayed with less than 10 minutes to play. Trent Frederic and Darnell Nurse fought with Jonah Gadjovich and were given game misconducts. The game was settled before that, but the penalties hurt Edmonton all night.

The Oilers even resorted to squirting water at the Panthers bench. Jake Walman took his water bottle and tried to soak the Panthers, which in most instances is also a penalty, but none was called on Walman.

For Bennett, it was his 14th goal of this postseason, which leads the NHL. He made a nasty hit on Edmonton's Vasily Podkolzin which created a turnover which he turned into a 2-on-0 breakaway and he drilled the puck past Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner.

Florida defenseman Nate Schmidt had an assist in the second period which gives him a total of five over the three games.

The Panthers scored two goals in each period in dismantling the Oilers. The fifth goal scored by Aaron Ekblad sent Skinner to the bench as he was replaced by Calvin Pickard, who then surrendered a goal to Evan Rodrigues.

Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, on the other hand, was spectacular. He stopped 32 of 33 shots and kept Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid off the score sheet. The locals were chanting his name loudly in the third period.

Following the game, the Panthers fired rats at Marchand, which is a new tradition since Marchand was acquired in March. The fans pelted the ice with plastic rats, a tradition which started in 1996, when the Panthers went to their first Stanley Cup Final against the Colorado Avalanche. Marchand, who is nicknamed "The Rat" caught the plastic animals off of the sticks of Matthew Tkachuk, Rodrigues and captain Aleksander Barkov.

Game 4 will be Thursday night at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. The puck will drop at 8 p.m. ET.