‘They seem to get away with it more than we do’: Oilers’ Evander Kane reacts to Game 3 penalty parade

There’s no love lost between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.

The Panthers won Game 3 by a score of 6-1 in what turned out to be the most violent outing of the Stanley Cup Final thus far. The two teams combined for 140 penalty minutes in Game 3 on Monday night, with 122 coming in the third period alone.

Evander Kane was at the forefront of the physicality, taking two minor penalties in the first period before later getting assessed a 10-minute misconduct.

“I think the game obviously got out of hand at the end, that stuff is going to happen,” Kane said after the game. “You look at some of the calls that were obviously frustrating. They seem to get away with it more than we do. It’s tough to find the line, they’re doing just as much stuff as we are. It’s 4-4 (penalties) at the end of it (first) and then it gets out of hand. They seemed to be paying a little more attention to our group.

“We didn’t play very well, that’s evident, we don’t have anybody to blame but ourselves,” Kane added. “We can be a lot better.”

The Panthers never lost control of the game, scoring early and then building upon the lead as the night wore on.

But with tensions mounting in the third, that’s when the game started to get violent.

“I don’t think we lost our composure until maybe the very end there, when we’re trying to show a little bit of fight back,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “I don’t mind the fight back, that’s what good teams do. I’m not thrilled with the first period, giving up eight minutes in penalties. Our power play is not able to get one, their power play gets one, and you’re in a hole right away in a tough building against a really good team.”

The Panthers hold a 2-1 series lead, with action resuming on Thursday night in Sunrise, Florida.