Stanley Cup Final Game 3: Panthers blow out Oilers as series continues to get spicy

However, a roughing penalty from Anton Lundell at the end of the first period proved to be costly for Florida, as the Oilers capitalized on the power play early in the second period with another goal from Corey Perry. Suddenly, it was 2-1, and the Oilers were back in it…

But not for long. Just 80 seconds after Perry’s goal, Sam Reinhart fired the puck top cheese to give the Panthers the two-goal lead again, and that began to open the floodgates. Sam Bennett scored a few minutes later to make it 4-1, Aaron Ekblad scored on a spectacular passing play early in the third period to put the game in blowout territory, and Evan Rodrigues got one more for good measure in the final few minutes. Stuart Skinner got the yank after the fifth goal, with Edmonton putting Calvin Pickard in the net to close out the game.

On top of all that, the Oilers saw both Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leave the game at some point in the second period, with Nugent-Hopkins already appearing to be dealing with an injury that made him a game-time decision while McDavid was shaken up after a hit from Ekblad. Both players returned the lineup later in the period, but Edmonton best hope that those two aren’t badly banged up.

Even though the game was over on the scoreboard, there were still some festivities to close out the game. A brawl broke out midway through the period, with Darnell Nurse and Jonah Gadjovich dropping the gloves, and Bennett, Perry, A.J. Greer, Mattias Ekholm and Trent Frederic all getting penalties or misconducts. Overall, 140 penalty minutes were distributed in the game. That was one of many scrums that occurred in the period, so it’s safe to say that both of these teams aren’t happy with each other and won’t be for Game 4.

So after all that, the Panthers walked away with a dominant 6-1 win, and now take a 2-1 series lead. It was a team effort as well, with six different goal scorers, and only six players failing to register a point in the game.