Marchand scores in 2nd OT, Panthers beat Oilers 5-4 in Game 2 to even the Stanley Cup Final

EDMONTON Alberta AP Brad Marchand scored on a breakaway in double overtime and the defending champion Florida Panthers punched back against the Edmonton Oilers in Competition of their Stanley Cup Final rematch winning - on Friday night to even the series Marchand s second goal of the night into the second OT allowed Florida to escape with a split after Corey Perry scored to tie it with seconds left in the third period and Stuart Skinner pulled for an extra attacker Each of the first two games this final have gone to overtime for the first time since and just the sixth in NHL history Much like last year and the playoff run to this point Sergei Bobrovsky was dialed in when he was needed the bulk making a few unreal saves while stopping of the shots he faced His teammates provided the necessary goal promotion Along with Marchand Sam Bennett scored his postseason-leading th goal and NHL record th on the road Seth Jones scored into a wide-open net after a few spectacular tic-tac-toe passing and fellow defenseman Dmitry Kulikov tied it with a shot through traffic that Stuart Skinner almost certainly did not see Kulikov s goal came after Florida controlled play for several minutes in the second hemming Edmonton in its zone shift after shift and piling up a - advantage in shot attempts during the period Marchand s OT goal was his th career goal in the final to lead all evolving players Challenge is Monday night as the teams traverse the continent and play shifts to Sunrise The Panthers wrested home-ice advantage away from the Oilers by splitting the first two rebounding from a Challenge overtime loss and asserting they won t go quietly against Draisaitl and Connor McDavid looking like they ll do everything in their power to hoist the Cup for the first time Of curriculum those stars had their moments They assisted on Evan Bouchard s goal when coach Kris Knoblauch put them on the ice together and McDavid stickhandled through multiple defenders in highlight-reel fashion to set up Draisaitl scoring on the power play There were a lot of those in total after leaders whistled penalties including three in the first four minutes Each squad had a minimal calls it was not happy with though the greater part of that evened out over the discipline of the encounter