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While fighting is a regularity in the NHL, there’s a low percentage of it happening in Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, though, saw an all-out brawl in the Florida Panthers’ lopsided victory over the Edmonton Oilers to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
In their first home game of the best-of-seven series, the Panthers took full advantage, and the Oilers tried to get even in a physical way instead of on the scoreboard.
The game was already 5-1 in favor of Florida when things were getting more chippy on the ice. It reached a different level when Edmonton forward Trent Federic started to pick on Sam Bennett to the point where he cross-checked him down to the ice, and Bennett retaliated with some punches as he got on top of Federic.
That initial fight led every player on the ice to find a partner to duel with, and the referees simply let the brawl play itself out. The Oilers’ Darnell Nurse and the Panthers’ Jonah Gadjovich clutched each other’s sweaters and were throwing haymakers, while Florida’s A.J. Greer dueled with Edmonton’s Mattias Ekholm.
After the fights fizzled out, Nurse, Godjovich, Bennett, Federic, Greer and Ekholm were all called for game misconducts and sent off the ice for the remainder of the game.
STANLEY CUP FINAL: FLORIDA PANTHERS EVEN UP SERIES AFTER THRILLING 2OT WIN AGAINST EDMONTON OILERS
But, with nearly half of the third period still to play, the tension between these two teams vying for Lord Stanley’s Cup didn’t stop. It mainly came from the Oilers, as Evander Kane was sent off the ice for the night after slashing Carter Verhaeghe in the face while he was down on the ice.
More penalties would be had as the clock kept ticking down, and at that point, both teams were just hoping no one would get hurt with much of this series left to play. Even at the final buzzer, Oilers star Corey Perry started jousting with multiple Panthers players, as fans started throwing debris onto the ice.
In the end, the Panthers responded to all the over-physical play by the Oilers with a power-play goal to cap their 6-1 victory, as Evan Rodrigues hammered home a shot.
Other than the fights, some tremendous offensive hockey was on display by Florida from the get-go, as Brad Marchand potted one past Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner just under one minute into the game.
Marchand became the oldest player in NHL history to score in each of the first three Stanley Cup Finals games. But he isn’t the only player to do so on his team in this series.
Sam Bennett joined him in the second period after finding himself on a breakaway to the net thanks to Eetu Luostarinen intercepting an Edmonton pass at the blue line.
Bennett went backhand forehand on Skinner, and buried his wrister top shelf to take a commanding 4-1 lead. Amerant Bank Arena went berserk as Bennett’s goal led to an eruption of cheering on and off the ice for the Panthers.
Verhaeghe also got into the goal column with a power-play goal assisted by Rodrigues and Nate Schmidt to go into the locker room up 2-0.
Perry was able to get the Oilers a much-needed response with a power-play goal of his own at the beginning of the second period, but Florida’s physicality, which was deemed legal by referees on the ice, ultimately led to Bennett’s goal and Sam Reinhart’s before that.
Things came off the rails for Edmonton when Florida went back on the power play, and their top unit put together a beautiful display of passing ending with Aaron Ekblad’s wide-open net to wrist home the team’s fifth goal of the contest.
It was truly a statement win for Florida, who have all types of momentum heading into Game 4 on Thursday night.
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