*Photo from Yahoo Sports*
Florida leads series 2-0
Two down, two to go. Anton Lundell had two assists, Evan Rodrigues had a pair of goals, and the Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers with a 4-1 victory Monday night in Sunrise.
The Panthers now stand two wins away from capturing their first Stanley Cup championship after entering this series 1-8 all time in Stanley Cup Final games. For this win, the Panthers rattled off 4 unanswered goals, with Rodrigues responsible for two of them.
Starting the scoring in this one was the Oilers. Mattias Ekholm gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead after one period, scoring 11:17 into the game with Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid getting assists. Niko Mikkola provided the only goal of the second period, tying the game 1-1 with assists from Lundell and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Rodrigues broke the tie 3:11 into the 3rd period, putting the Panthers ahead 2-1 as he scored an unassisted goal. On the power play at the 12:26 mark of the period, Rodrigues scored again, making the lead 3-1 on his 6th goal of the playoffs. Aaron Ekblad sealed the win and made it a 4-1 game with an empty net goal.
Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said of Rodrigues' two goals that "He was awesome. Playing with him the last few games, he reads the game so well. That's two games in a row scoring some big goals for us. He's a super smart player and I'm really happy to see him get rewarded right now. We work so hard, and tonight it was him and it could've been a number of guys, and he did a great job of finding the net for us."
Playing well in goal yet again for the Panthers was Sergei Bobrovsky, who has only allowed one goal over the two games. Bobrovsky turned aside all but one of the 19 shots the Oilers sent his way, good for a .947 save percentage.
Getting the start on the other end of the ice for the Oilers was Stuart Skinner, who had a solid night but couldn't outduel Bobrovsky. Skinner stopped 25 out of the 28 shots on goal the Panthers had, posting a .893 save percentage.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid said of being down 2-0 that "It’s another opportunity for group to come together and dig our way out. It’s supposed to be hard, it’s supposed to be difficult, and I’m excited to see what our group is made of. I’m excited to see our group come together, I’m excited to see us fight through adversity and I’m looking forward to people doubting us again with our backs against the wall."
The 3rd game of the series is set for Thursday night as the series shifts to Edmonton for games 3 and 4. The Panthers look to put the Oilers on the brink with their 3rd win of the series, while the Oilers try to get back into the series with a win on home ice.
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