Winning Moment: How the Florida Panthers got closer to defending the title

Florida defeated Edmonton on the road in the fifth match of the Stanley Cup finals series — 5:2. The score in the series was 3-2 in favor of the Panthers, with one victory remaining for Sergey Bobrovsky's team. Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, Sam Rinehart and Eetu Luostarinen scored goals for Florida. Connor McDavid and Corey Perry scored goals for the Oilers. Sergey Bobrovsky blocked 19 of 21 shots on his own goal, and also repeated the NHL record for away wins in one playoff game.

Marchand is on fire

Prior to the fifth match of the Stanley Cup Finals, the main goalkeeper Stuart Skinner was constantly at the start of Edmonton. The Canadian played much more reliably in the playoffs than in the regular season, but the series with Florida turned out badly for him. Two substitutions in a row — in the third and fourth games — led Oilers head coach Chris Noblocka to take a risky step: trust Calvin Picard, who successfully insured Skinner throughout the playoffs. Until tonight, Edmonton's understudy had not lost in the cup part of the season. However, Florida interrupted this series and is now one step away from a second championship.

The Panthers' third link is the real discovery of Paul Maurice. The ageless Brad Marchand became an important part of it. No matter how the final ended, the exchange of the veteran forward from Boston can already be considered super successful for Florida. In conjunction with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, the 37-year-old Canadian helps the leaders from the top 6 very much. In the fifth match, Marchand opened the scoring and scored his ninth (and later 10th) goal in the playoffs. The guests joined in from the first shifts and fairly took the starting line, acting clearly and rationally. The Panthers outperformed Edmonton in shots, had more possession of the puck, and led by two goals. Marchand was supported by another contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy, Sam Bennett.

The best against the best: what awaits Bobrovsky's team in the final episode

Florida will play in the Stanley Cup Finals for the third year in a row, the second time against Edmonton

Florida experienced its hardest stretch in the second period, when it twice allowed Edmonton's leaders to score in the majority. Connor McDavid and his partners rarely made shots, but they constantly kept the defense in suspense, trying to find an option for a profitable transfer. The Panthers were outnumbered for a long time after four minutes. At one point in the period, the drop gap looked like a nightmare (1-7). The second periods in this final are sometimes difficult for Maurice's team. Towards the end, Florida pushed the game away from Sergei Bobrovsky's goal and gave the goalkeeper a break.

The Oilers have repeatedly shown how they can save hopeless matches in the current playoffs. But today, another feat of the Nobloc team did not submit. The realization of moments is one of the key indicators of why, after five matches, Florida again led in the final series. The restless Marchand enchanted the Oilers' defense with incredible dribbling and organized the most important third goal, scoring a double. He now has six goals in the 2025 NHL Playoff finals, which is the most in a finals series since Esa Tikkanen in 1988 (6). The last before Tikkanen was Wayne Gretzky in 1985 (7).

Edmonton did not give up. McDavid responded with an equally spectacular goal (the first in the final!), but Sam Rinehart returned the three-goal advantage just 46 seconds later. Florida quickly put out Connor's revived intrigue.

Bobrovsky's record

The character and skill level of Edmonton added hope for a fantastic comeback to the last. Noblocke was taking an expected risk. Almost five minutes before the siren, Picard was replaced by the sixth fielder. Literally immediately, the hosts could have scored, but Bobrovsky was saved by the frame of the gate. Later, Corey Perry did close the gap, but Edmonton didn't have enough for more. The fifth goal from Luostarinen into an empty net finally killed the intrigue. Florida is one step away from the Stanley Cup and can take the championship in the next match on home ice.

"Winning the fifth match was very important for us,— Sergei Bobrovsky said after the game. — Brad Marchand played a big role in this. He's performing just fine, he's our leader. Brad scored important goals for us and he tried very hard today.

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The Russian goalkeeper of Florida scored his 10th away victory in the 2025 NHL playoffs. 36-year-old Bobrovsky repeated the NHL record for away wins in one playoff draw and became the eighth goalkeeper in the history of the league with such an indicator. Previously, this was achieved by Martin Brodeur (1994/95 and 1999/00 seasons), Miikka Kiprusoff (2003/04), Jonathan Quick (2011/12), Braden Holtby (2016/17), Jordan Binnington (2018/19), Andrey Vasilevsky (2019/20) and Anton Khudobin (2019/20).

"I think Bobrovsky was seriously tested in the first 10 minutes," said Panthers coach Paul Maurice. — Edmonton started well. He quickly passed through the middle zone. In several episodes, he had to make a couple of important saves. If you're playing away and you manage to keep the arena from exploding in the first 10 minutes, it's very important for the overall emotional background.

The sixth match of the series will take place on the night of June 18 and will begin at 03:00 Moscow time.