EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Brad Marchand is making more highlights for his new team, Sam Bennett is piling up the goals again and the Florida Panthers are on the verge of hoisting the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row.
Marchand scored twice, Bennett had his playoff-leading 15th goal and the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Game 5 of the final on Saturday night to take a 3-2 series lead.
The Panthers improved to 10-3 on the road during this run, matching the NHL record for victories away from home in a single playoffs. They can hoist the Cup again as soon as Tuesday night if they win Game 6 on home ice in Sunrise.
“It was very solid game, definitely,” goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky said. “But the series continues and we are excited about the next game. It’s going to be a big game.”
Florida this time built a multigoal lead and built on it, unlike a couple of previous games in the final. Bobrovsky stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced, making some important saves when needed, and was aided by lockdown defense that took ice away from the Oilers.
Marchand, Bennett and Sam Reinhart provided the offense. Marchand joined Mario Lemieux as the only players in the past half-century to score five-plus goals in a final multiple times, and his 13 career goals in the final are the most among active players.
“I’m just enjoying every moment,” said Marchand, who is in his fourth final and third since winning the Cup with Boston in 2011. “It’s such a special group of guys, and I’m having so much fun here right now. I honestly feel like a young guy in the league again, just excited to be part of the group.”
Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the series after the Oilers fell behind 3-0. Reinhart’s came 46 seconds later to restore the Panthers’ three-goal lead, and by the time Corey Perry scored with 3:13 left, it was too late.
Eetu Luostarinen sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:19 left, silencing the once fired-up crowd for a final time.
“We just got to play our game earlier,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “We can all agree in our room that we can be better.”
Edmonton’s power play went 0 for 3, a product of the Panthers’ aggressive penalty kill knocking McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the top unit out of their usual rhythm.
Calvin Pickard lost for the first time in eight starts this spring, allowing four goals on 18 shots. He got the nod over Stuart Skinner after entering in relief and winning Game 4 to improve to 7-0, a record that is now 7-1.
Skinner could be back in for Game 6, with the Panthers aiming to close things out following another cross-continental trip back to the other corner of North America. They are in this spot after bouncing back from blowing a three-goal lead and falling in overtime in Game 4, taking advantage of their depth to send the Oilers to the brink again.
“We’ve been pretty good at bouncing back all playoffs,” Marchand said. “We learned a pretty good lesson there last game, and thought we did a much better job in this one.”
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
