The Florida Panthers skated to a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday night in Game Five of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. Florida is one win away from capturing back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. Veteran left winger Brad Marchand scored a pair of goals for the Panthers, giving him six for the series and 10 for the playoffs overall. Meanwhile, the Oilers received third-period tallies from superstar Connor McDavid (7th) and veteran Corey Perry (10th) in a third-period comeback bid that fell short.
Sam Bennett (15th), Sam Reinhart (7th) and Eetu Luostarinen (empty net, 5th) also scored for Florida. The latter two goals came in response to the McDavid and Perry goals, twice restoring three-goal leads for Paul Maurice’s team.
Game Five was markedly different from the first four matches in several respects. Special teams did not factor into the outcome. Florida went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Edmonton was 0-for-3. Additionally, it was more of a low-event match in general. The Panthers allowed just 21 shots for the game while playing with the lead for 50:48. Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves including a couple a high-end stops. Meanwhile, Florida was opportunistic in scoring five goals on a modest 19 shots.
Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch elected to start Calvin Pickard in goal. Stuart Skinner was pulled in each of the two previous games. In relief, Pickard was an Oilers’ hero in their Game Four comeback win. However, in Game Five, Florida picked apart the 33-year-old journeyman netminder. There’s little doubt that starting goaltender choice will be a central debate topic heading into Game Six in Sunrise on Tuesday.
1st period: Panthers pounce for a two-goal lead
It didn’t happen as fast as Game One, when Marchand set the tone with a goal on the match’s first shift. Nevertheless, the longtime Bruin needed less than half of one period to set a tone in the series swing game. Marchand raced past a flat-footed Mattias Ekholm off a faceoff to score a gorgeous goal for a 1-0 lead. Anton Lundell drew the lone assist.
Later, a broken play on a transition rush turned to a 2-0 lead. At 18:06, after an initially blocked shot attempt by Matthew Tkachuk, Bennett claimed the puck and ripped a shot from the slot past an over-committed Pickard. The Edmonton goalie came way out to challenge Tkachuk and was unable to stop the follow-up shot from Bennett.
2nd period: Florida holds steady to preserve the lead
The Panthers learned a lesson the hard way in Game Four. Paul Maurice’s club took a three-goal lead into the middle stanza only to see it evaporate in the second period. Determined not to see a repeat, the Panthers focused on their checking game and puck support. Bobrovsky made eight save. Meanwhile, Pickard saw just five shots, although three were dangerous opportunities for Florida.
A Florida penalty kill loomed large. The Oilers tested Bobrovsky several times (four shots, three high-danger chances). However, the star veteran was equal to the task.
Neither team scored in the middle frame. Essentially, this was a win for the team playing with the lead. Saturday’s game marked the first time in the series in which the second period did not materially swing momentum away from the team that controlled the opening 20 minutes.
3rd period: Marchand gives Panthers a stranglehold
Marchand worked some magic again early in the third period. Once again, Florida scored in transition. Marchand slickly maneuvered around Jake Walman on the counter-attack and tucked the puck past Pickard for a 3-0 lead at 5:12. Luostarinen picked up the lone assist.
Later, at 7:24, McDavid found operating room in the offensive zone to cut the deficit to two goals. It was the Oiler superstar’s first goal and seventh point of the Cup Final. Evan Bouchard (16th assist of the playoffs) and Ekholm drew the assists. However, the reprieve proved short-lived for Edmonton. In a pivotal sequence, Aleksander Barkov made a slick pass to Reinhart. The former Sabre buried a snap shot past Pickard at 8:10. With it, the Panthers also buried the hopes of a realistic Oilers comeback.
Neverthless, the resilient Oilers weren’t quite finished. Not yet. At 16:47, Perry’s shot from up high in the attack zone beat Bobrovsky through layers of traffic. The Panthers were back within two goals again with 3:13 remaining to try to force overtime for the fourth time in the series. Leon Draisaitl (21st playoff assist, eight point of the series and 33rd point in 21 postseason games) assisted along with Darnell Nurse.
Florida halted Edmonton’s last-ditch comeback short-effort at 18:41. Luostarinen’s empty netter from long distance restored another three-goal margin for Florida and sealed the win.
Final thoughts
This series isn’t over by a longshot. Last year, the Oilers recovered from a 3-0 series deficit to force a seventh and deciding game in the Cup Final against Florida. In Game Four of this year’s series, the potent Edmonton team systematically bounced back from a massive deficit entering the second period. The dramatic comeback win in overtime is why the Panthers didn’t hoist the Stanley Cup on Saturday night.
The Oilers remain eminently capable of forcing a Game Seven again. Edmonton is capable of back-to-back wins with no margin for error.
That said, goaltending looms as a major problem for the Oilers. On any given night, Bobrovsky can steal a game for the Oilers. Meanwhile, on any given night, either Skinner or Pickard can struggle for needed saves. Florida can win low-volume shot games as well as they can prevail in a high-scoring affair with lots of dangerous scoring chances. Edmonton needs to keep the Panthers away from their goalies as much as possible. Unfortunately for the Oilers, the Panthers can also score from distance. The Oiler goalies have also been beaten to the short side multiple times in the series.
Edmonton neutralized its special teams disadvantage in Game Five. Nevertheless, the Oilers still lost the game. Entering the game, if someone said the Panthers would go 0-for-2 on the power play and held to 19 total shots, the natural assumption would be a successful night for Edmonton. Moving forward, the Oilers may need back-to-back “A” games from McDavid and/or Draisail to pull out the series.
