SUNRISE — Evan Rodrigues never played in a Stanley Cup Final before Saturday night. On Monday, he had a game that will live on in Florida Panthers lore.
The second-line winger, who also scored a goal in Game 1, scored the game-winning goal and added an insurance goal as the Panthers rolled to a 4-1 win over the Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena, taking a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final as the series moves to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4.
“It’s special,” Rodrigues said. “Trying to embrace it, kind of stay in the moment. It’s two big wins for our team. I think we’re already turned the page and we’re getting ready for Game 3.”
The Panthers’ defense was stingy throughout the night, allowing 19 shots on goal from the Oilers’ high-powered offense. Sam Bennett went to the penalty box in the first half of the first period, but the Panthers’ penalty kill stepped up. The vaunted Oilers power play — which scored on 25 percent of man advantages in the postseason — did not manage a single shot against Florida’s defense.
“Just played structured defense, help each other and obviously, a lot of guys try to block shots,” Panthers forward Vladimir Tarasenko said. “It’s a big part of our game.”
With 10:39 left in the first period, Oilers winger Warren Foegele hit Panthers winger Eetu Luostarinen with his knee. He was given a game misconduct penalty and ejected, costing his team a five-minute major penalty. Luostarinen stayed down on the ice for a moment and went to the locker room but returned later in the period.
However, Edmonton did get on the board first. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson cost his team during the power play, getting sent off the ice for tripping. With the teams playing four-on-four, Mattias Ekholm put the Oilers up 1-0 19 seconds after the Ekman-Larrson penalty.
After a slow start to the second period, the Panthers equalized about halfway through. After an errant back pass from Niko Mikkola had to be saved by goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, the defenseman made amends with a wrist shot he fired past Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner, tying the game at one.
“Bobby was awake, so good for us,” Mikkola said. “And then the rest was nice.”
The teams stayed knotted at one through the end of the second period until Rodrigues broke the tie with a shot past Skinner from the point to put Florida up 2-1 3:11 into the third period.
The Oilers took Skinner out of the game with about five minutes left in the third period, trying to equalize the game with an extra skater, but the Panthers added a goal from Aaron Ekblad to seal the win.
The news was not all good for the Panthers, though. Captain Aleksander Barkov left the game with an injury after Edmonton star Leon Draisaitl hit him in the face in the third period.
Florida will play Edmonton in Game 3 on Thursday at 8 p.m., looking to take a commanding 3-0 series lead.
“It’s important in the playoffs to just turn the page,” Tarasenko said. “It’s going to be loud there. We’ll be ready for it.”
