*Photo from Sporting News*
Florida leads series 3-2
Now this is getting interesting. Evan Bouchard had 3 assists, Connor McDavid had two goals and two assists, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night in Sunrise.
Once down 3-0 in the series, the Oilers have won the last two games with their backs against the wall, forcing the series back to Edmonton for game 6 and continuing to keep their season alive. No team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the Stanley Cup Final. The Oilers are two wins away from becoming the first.
The high end talent arrived once again for the Oilers. McDavid is continuing his big postseason and is now the betting favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy after a 4 point game. Bouchard added 3 assists and two of Edmonton's 5 goals came on the power play, with one coming shorthanded as well.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game that "We've been counted out a lot through the playoffs, regular season, whatever. But it doesn't faze the group in there. They have a lot of belief and a lot of just enjoying every extra day because we were counted out a long time ago and we're still here playing hockey in June. We are going back to Edmonton for Game 6 and there's a lot to smile about."
Connor Brown scored the only goal of the first period, giving the Oilers a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal. Hyman added a power play goal for the Oilers just 1:58 into the second period, doubling the lead to 2-0. McDavid scored his 7th goal of the playoffs to make it 3-0 before Matthew Tkachuk got the Panthers on the board, making it a 3-1 game.
At the 11:54 mark of the second, Corey Perry scored on the power play to make it a 4-1 Oilers lead. Evan Rodrigues scored for the Panthers to cut the deficit to 4-2. Oliver Ekman-Larsson made it a 4-3 game 4:04 into the 3rd period on his second goal of the playoffs. McDavid then scored on an empty net to seal the win.
McDavid said of the win that "It was a total effort from everybody. Special teams, obviously, were great. The penalty kill, there's nothing else to really say. It's been great. Brownie scores a nice goal there to kind of settle us in. The power play got going, Stu was great and 5-on-5 we just did enough. It was a total team effort from top to bottom."
Getting the start between the pipes for the Oilers was Stuart Skinner, who picked up his second straight win to keep the season alive. Skinner made 29 saves on the 32 shots the Panthers tested him with, giving him a .906 save percentage.
It was Sergei Bobrovsky in net again for the Panthers, losing his second straight game after winning the first 3. Bobrovsky turned aside 19 out of the 23 shots on goal that the Oilers sent his way, recording a .826 save percentage.
Florida head coach Paul Maurice said after the game that "I'm not pumping tires. I'm not rubbing backs. I don't think we need that at all. Everybody feels probably exactly the way I do right now. I'm not feeling deflated. Neither's the hockey team. They're not feeling deflated. Little grumpy."
Game 6 of the series is set for Friday night back in Edmonton. The Panthers will look to close out the series for the 3rd game in a row and win the title on the road, while the Oilers need to win at home again to push this series all the way to a 7th game.
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