Panthers beat Oilers in Recreation 3, on cusp of first Stanley Cup title

EDMONTON, Alberta — – Aleksander Barkov led the best way offensively, Sergei Bobrovsky was in peak kind in aim as soon as once more and the Florida Panthers are on the verge of lifting the Stanley Cup.

Barkov arrange a aim and scored one other, Bobrovsky made 32 saves to increase his run of dominance and the Panthers held on to beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in Recreation 3 of the Cup last Thursday evening.

They will win the primary title in franchise historical past as quickly as Recreation 4 on Saturday evening on Edmonton.

Florida took one other step towards hockey’s mountaintop by pouncing on a handful of Edmonton turnovers and holding Connor McDavid from scoring a aim. A late rally obtained the Oilers inside one however fell quick.

Lengthy earlier than that, Barkov compelled one of many giveaways by Evan Bouchard seconds earlier than Sam Reinhart’s aim, netminder Stuart Skinner coughed up the puck on Vladimir Tarasenko’s, and Darnell Nurse gave it away on Sam Bennett’s.

Barkov had one of many signature moments by getting previous the protection and beating Skinner on a breakaway, quieting for a while the group fired up for the primary Stanley Cup Ultimate recreation with followers in Edmonton since 2006.

It is going to take the Oilers finishing a comeback executed simply 4 occasions in NHL playoff historical past – and as soon as within the last all the best way again in 1942 – to finish Canada’s Cup drought.

The final yr a staff primarily based in Canada received it was Montreal in 1993, months earlier than the Panthers’ inaugural season. Till this sequence, that they had gone 1-8 within the last.

Behind Barkov and Bobrovsky, Florida has completely flipped that script. The 2 main candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP have been arguably the 2 greatest gamers on the ice in Recreation 3, together with Barkov bouncing again from a excessive hit from Leon Draistail that knocked him out of Recreation 2 on Monday evening.

One other large motive the Panthers obtained right here, winger Matthew Tkachuk, additionally had an enormous help and was chargeable for turning up the stress on Edmonton.

The Oilers wilted beneath it, dropping a recreation wherein they largely the higher staff however couldn’t overcome ill-timed miscues. Skinner allowed 4 objectives on 23 photographs and Connor Brown, Philip Broberg and Ryan McLeod scored, whereas McDavid for the primary time all playoffs appeared annoyed and out of kinds.

Doing that to elite opponents, defending them to the purpose of second-guessing their means to attain, is a large a part of the Panthers’ fashion and an enormous motive they’re on the league’s greatest stage and placing the chilly ones on ice for a possible championship celebration 2,500 miles from house.

By holding on to beat Edmonton on Thursday evening, in addition they confirmed no ailing results from ready to fly from South Florida to Alberta, a call that was questioned when their airplane was delayed by storms and obtained in just a few hours late Wednesday – lower than 24 hours earlier than puck drop. As an alternative of trying jet-lagged, the Panthers have been primed to pounce on alternatives to attain and delivered when it mattered most.