Stanley Cup Final: Panthers-Oilers Game 2 grades, takeaways

We tried to tell you after Game 1. Unless one of these teams pulls ahead by a large margin early in the game, it’s likely that every contest between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final is going to be decided in the last 10 minutes — or at least one overtime period.

That’s what happened in Game 1 with the Oilers winning in overtime. It happened again Friday with the venerable Corey Perry scoring the game-tying goal with 18 seconds left to send it to OT. But it would take double overtime before another veteran, Brad Marchand, scored the winning goal to give the Panthers a 5-4 victory. That draws the series level as the games head to South Florida, starting with Game 3 on Monday.

By now, you know how this works. How did both teams perform in another dramatic overtime contest? Who were the standout players for each side? And, as always, what are the major questions facing the Oilers and Panthers before Game 3?

The Oilers scored three first-period goals only to give up two in the frame and then two more in the next period as they struggled to gain control.

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Even with all of that, they found a way to score the tying goal late in the third period and force overtime for a consecutive game against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

There was so much up and down in Game 2, and yet the Oilers still had a chance at victory — only to watch Marchand score the winner in double OT.

For as strong as the Oilers are at coming back, Game 2 reinforced the importance of taking advantage of their opportunities. They controlled possession in the third period with a 63.6% shot share and four high-danger scoring chances; they had a 51.2% shot share in the first OT but still produced five high-danger scoring chances.

Heading to South Florida tied at 1-1 beats the alternative of trailing 2-0 in a series, as they did a year ago. But given their OT chances, this was a missed opportunity to have a 2-0 lead heading into Game 3.

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Corey Perry ties game for Oilers with 18 seconds left

Corey Perry scores a miraculous goal for the Oilers with under 20 seconds left to send Game 2 to overtime.

How much risk is too much against a team that never really dies, but lives in a perpetual stasis knowing it could attack at any time?

This was arguably the main question facing the Panthers in a first overtime during which they generated multiple scoring chances. There was the loose puck that slid underneath Stuart Skinner’s pads that John Klingberg cleared out of the crease. There was the rebound that Skinner snared in midair, and there was Sam Reinhart’s breakaway attempt that went wide when it could have ended the game.

It began to appear as if the Panthers could be left to ruminate over another set of missed opportunities — only to have Marchand get his second breakaway of the evening to score the game-winning goal and tie the series at 1-1.

Marchand’s goal did more than just bring his team even against the Oilers. It was the difference between the Panthers gaining a sense of control after two games or facing a 2-0 series hole after blowing third-period leads in both contests.

Arda Öcal’s three stars of Game 2

1. Brad MarchandRW, Panthers

Aside from the fact that “the Rat King” already has two traditions in his short stint with the Panthers — another visit to Dairy Queen occurred after yesterday’s team dinner, according Emily Kaplan, in addition to the team shooting plastic rats at him after wins — he scored a short-handed, go-ahead goal in the middle frame. It was Marchand’s second short-handed goal against a Canadian team on June 6 — he also got one against the Vancouver Canucks in 2011.

Then he scored the winner in double overtime, also on a breakaway, capping an incredible game.

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Brad Marchand wins it in 2OT for Panthers

Brad Marchand’s second goal of the night wins it in Game 2 for the Panthers in double overtime in Edmonton.

McDavid finished with three assists, including one that would have been the best career assist for many NHL players — and the best in the postseason for many — except for the fact that McDavid seems to be doing things like this every game.

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McDavid wizardry sets up Draisaitl for Oilers goal

The Oilers take the lead for the second time after Connor McDavid’s sensational assist to Leon Draisaitl.

3. The first period

What a way to start Game 2! The Panthers struck first thanks to Sam Bennett on the power play, then the Oilers scored two goals in under two minutes thanks to Evander Kane and Evan Bouchard. Seth Jones tied it up, but then a minute later, McDavid made another McMagic kind of play, blowing by Aleksander Barkov and making Aaron Ekblad look silly before dishing a sublime pass to Leon Draisaitl. Just a reminder, this was all in the first period!

There were also 11 total penalties in the opening 20 minutes, but that didn’t seem to ruin the flow at all. If anything, the power plays and 4-on-4 hockey added to it.

Players to watch in Game 3

Evan BouchardD, Oilers

Bouchard’s Game 2 performance adds to a tricky conversation facing the Oilers once they reach the offseason. But there’ll be more on that shortly. Game 2 was his seventh multipoint performance, and also the second time this postseason he finished with three points in a single game.

Here’s where the nuance comes into play. Bouchard was involved in all but one of the Oilers’ goals. If not for Connor McDavid, he would have led them with 34:29 in ice time, which is slightly more than three “SpongeBob” episodes. Receiving that much ice time further cements the trust he has gained from Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. However, Bouchard was also on the ice for three goals against, including both of Marchand’s breakaways, while being assessed for a pair of cross-checking penalties.

There’s still more to be said about how this postseason ends for the Oilers and Bouchard. But when it does, the two sides will need to agree on a new contract for the standout blueliner. Already on a bridge deal, he’s a pending restricted free agent who appears in line to earn a significant raise from the $4.3 million salary he has earned the past two seasons. How will his play in the rest of the series influence those conversations?

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Oilers take lead on Evan Bouchard deflection

Evan Bouchard scores on a second-chance opportunity after getting the puck back off of a deflection.

What’s a more bizarre realization? The fact that Tkachuk hadn’t recorded a shot on goal until late in the third period — only to then have that shot registered for someone else? Or that this was the sixth time during these playoffs that he didn’t finish with a shot on goal?

Or is it the fact that the Panthers lost only one of those games in which Tkachuk didn’t get a shot on goal?

Although the Panthers found the necessary offensive contributions to win Game 2, there’s no denying that Tkachuk will be central to their plans should they ultimately win this series. This postseason has seen Tkachuk respond by having a point in all but one of those games after he finished with no shots on goal (two of those shotless games were consecutive). Goals, while crucial, are just part of the equation for Tkachuk, who had only one of the Panthers’ 60 hits. More is needed from Florida’s superstar.

Big questions for Game 3

Can the Oilers find more consistency early instead of relying on their late heroics?

Two games of a series might be enough of a sample size to state that the Oilers must improve their play right off the hop instead of trying to consistently rely on their late-game abilities as they have thus far.

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Look no further than the first period of Game 2. Although giving up two goals didn’t help their cause, the Oilers found ways to regain control. They had a 55% shot share overall while logging 14 shots on goal, which led to them scoring three goals, including Leon Draisaitl’s power-play goal that gave them a 3-2 lead heading into the second period.

But that’s what made the second period so jarring compared with how things started. The Oilers were limited to nine shots, gave up two goals and largely played without the puck as they had a shot share below 30% in the period before rallying late in the third to tie the game, forcing overtime.

They lost by the closest of margins, and how they played in the second period could have been the difference between a 2-0 series lead versus and the current 1-1 split.

What must the Panthers do to put the Oilers away in the third period?

In Game 1, the Oilers ended the Panthers’ 31-game streak of winning when they had a lead after two periods. It nearly happened again Friday with Perry’s late third-period goal that would force overtime — only for Marchand’s second of the night to eventually win the game.

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After allowing three goals in the first period, the Panthers had a 70.45% shot share in the second. They had eight high-danger scoring chances in that frame, and made them count with two goals for a 4-3 lead entering the third.

It looked as if the Panthers were going to win Game 2 until, well, the Oilers came back to tie the game in the final frame … again.

Once the game was in OT, Florida had numerous chances to score in both periods before Marchand tallied the winner.

There’s no need to fully delve into how much the Panthers know about the Oilers’ ability to come back, given what happened last season when Edmonton rebounded from down 3-0 to force Game 7. But it is worth noting that Edmonton came into Game 2 having scored 15 goals in the final five minutes of regulation this postseason, while also being 4-0 in overtime, which just reinforces how nothing is really safe against the Oilers.

In a way, the Panthers survived in a manner most haven’t this postseason. They might not be so lucky the next time.